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THE 



HISTORY OF MfflMSOTi: 



FEOM THE 



EAELIEST FRENCH EXPLORATIOIS 



TO THE 



PRESENT TIME, 



BY THE 



REV. EDWARD DOT FIELD NEILL, 

PRESIDENT OF MACALESTER COLLEGE; 

corresponding member op massachusetts historical society; author of 

"Virginia Company of London," "The English Colonization of 

America," Founders of Maryland," Etc., Etc., Etc 



" Nescire quid antea quam natus sis acciolerit, id semper esse puerumj* 



FOURTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED 



MINNEAPOLIS: 

MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COMPA: 

1882. 








-/ / 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



In the preparation of an enlarged edition of the History of 
Minnesota, great assistance has been received from material 
which was not accessible when the earlier editions were 
published. 

Two years ago tracings were obtained, from some unpub- 
lished maps, which more fully exhibit the movements of the 
first explorers of Minnesota than the published charts of 
De Tlsle and others, and have led to a modification of some 
statements, in the former editions. These tracings were loaned 
to the State Geologist, Prof. Winchell, who considered them 
of sufficient importance to be engraved for his final report on 
the geology of Minnesota, and by his courtesy two of the 
maps appear in this work. 

Appended to this edition will be found a chapter on the 
published and unpublished maps of the region west of Lake 
Superior; additional notices of Groselliers and Radisson, the 
first white men to visit the Sioux; a memoir of Du Luth; a 
careful examination of the writings of Hennepin; additional 
notices of Perrot, and Pierre Le Sueur the explorer of the 
St. Pierre, now Minnesota River; an abstract of La Hontan's 
fabulous voyage in midwinter, upon a so - called Long River; 
an extended account of Fort Beauharnois on the shores of 
Lake Pepin; the explorations of the Verandries; a sketch of 
David Thompson, the geographer and astronomer of the 
North- West Company; large extracts from the manuscripts 
of Alexander Henry, one of the first English traders in the 
valley of the Red River of the North ; and a history of Fort 
Snelling. 



PREFATORY KOTE. 

An acknowledgment is due to Alpheus P. Tod, the accom- 
plished librarian of the Parliament Library of the Dominion 
of Canada, at Ottawa, for the use of manuscripts; to his court- 
eous assistant, L. P, Sylvain, for repeated favors; and to the 
Hon. A. S. Hardy, Secretary of the Province of Ontario, for 
valuable documents, and access to the unpublished journals of 
David Thompson. 

Lyman C. Draper, the Secretary, and D. S. Durrie, the 
Librarian of the Wisconsin Historical Society, have also aided 
me by sending valuable works ol that Society which I desired 
to examine. 

As the last pages were going through the press, my friend, 
A. F. Spofford, LL. D., Librarian of Congress, forwarded for 
my inspection, the first sheets of the fifth volume of the 
Margry Documents now being printed in Paris. Therein is 
a letter of the Jesuit Engalran, written at Mackinaw on the 
23d of August, 1683, to Lefevre de La Barre, the new Governor 
of Canada. It mentions that Du Luth, who had returned to 
Mackinaw from France, went with thirty-one men, about the 
eighteenth of August, by way of Green Bay, to visit the Pot- 
towattomies, and express the displeasure of the Governor at 
their manifestation of ill will toward the French,and their sym- 
pathy with the Iroquois. He was not long absent from Mack- 
inaw, and upon his return, again began to make preparations 
for trading with the Sioux and the tribes north of Lake Supe- 
rior, as is noted in Appendix C, 

It is not claimed that this history is free from errors, but 
an attempt has been made to be fair minded, "nee falsa dicere, 
nee vera reticere", neither to promulgate falsehood, nor to 
conceal the truth. If, hereafter, it shall be of any service to 
one competent to write a better history, a great object of its 
preparation will have been attained, 

E. D. N. 

Salktt Paul, October, 1882. 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Physical characteristics, Page xxxi 

Boundaries of the state, . xxxi 

Climate of Minnesota, . xxxii 

Eulogy on climate by Maury, xxxii 

Report of Minnesota and 

Pacific Railroad, . . xxxiii 

Temperature of Minnesota, xxxiii 

Table illustrative of tempe- 
rature, . . . . xxxiv 

Annual temperature equal 

to Central New York, . xxxv 

Table showing mean fall of 
rain and melted snow at 
various places, . . xxxvi 

Less snow than on the At- 
lantic border, . . xxxvii 

Table showing mean force 
of wind in winter for sev- 
eral years, . . . xxxviii 



Minnesota well watered, . xxxix 

Cascades of Pigeon river, . xl 

Falls of Kettle river, . . xl 

Vermillion Falls, . . xl 

Minne-ha-ha, . . . xli 

Falls of St. Anthony, . . xlii 

Early French maps, . . xlv 

De l'lsle's maps, . . xlvi 

Jeffery's map, 1762, . . xlvii 
Pronunciation of certain 

Indian names, . . xlviii 
Census of Minnesota, 1857, xlix 
Rev. Albert Barnes' de- 
scription of Minnesota 
scenery, .... 1 
Meaning of the word Min- 
nesota, .... li 
Dahkotah used in place of 

Sioux li 



Dahkotahs, a distinct group, 
Language difficult, . 
Mille Lac region, . 
Dahkotah, its signification, 
Origin of term Sioux, 
Divisions of the Dahkotahs, 
M'dewakantonwans, 



CHAPTER I. 




49 Yanktons, 


. 52 


49 Teetwawns, . 


52 


50 Assineboines, 


52 


50 Revolt of the Assineboines, 


53 


51 Religious characteristics, 


. 54 


51 No idea of a Supreme Being, 


54 


52 Oanktayhee, . 


55 


(7) 





Till 



CONTENTS. 



Hayok&h, 
Takushkankan, 
Wahkeenyan, 
Thunder Nest, 



56 
57 

58 
58 



Poem on Thunder Bird, . . 59 
Sun worship, .... 60 
Offerings to stones, . . 60 



CHAPTER II. 



Dahkotahs priestridden, . 


61 


Maternal affection, . 


70 


Sacred men, . 


61 


Lament over an infant, . 


71 


Sacred or medicine dance, 


62 


Mode of obtaining wives, 


72 


Initiation as a sacred man, 


62 


Custom of son-in-law, 


72 


Ceremonies, . 


63 


Penalty for adultery, 


73 


Sacred song, . 


64 


The woodpecker charm, . 


73 


Medicine sack, 


64 


Love of dress, 


73 


Dahkotah doctors, . 


65 


Games, plum stones, 


74 


Vapour bath, . 


65 


Ball play, 


74 


Hennepin steamed, 


65 


Ball play at Oak Grove, 


75 


Medicine man, signification, . 


66 


Dog dance, 


76 


Cause of disease, . 


66 


Fish dance, 


. 76 


Manner of calling a doctor, 


67 


Cormorant dance, . 


77 


Mode of medical practice, 


67 


Secret clubs, . 


77 


Fondness for war, . 


68 


Crow Feather in Cap Club, 


78 


Vows of a young warrior, 


68 


Strong Heart Club, 


78 


The return of a war party, 


69 


Uncleanness, . 


79 


Scalp, its preparation, 


69 


Dog meat, a delicacy, 


. 80 


Scalp dance, . 


69 


Irregular mode of life, . 


.. 81 


Feathers, signs of prowess, 


69 






CT 


[APTER III. 




Dahkotah women, . 


. 82 


Schiller's poem, 


89 


Hardships of women, 


. 82 


Translations of Bulwer and 


I 


Husbands cruel, 


. 83 


Herschell, . 


89 


Disposition to be suicides, 


. 84 


Legends, 


90 


Disguised girl, 


. 84 


Eagle-Eye and Scarlet Dove, 


90 


Chiefs, no authority, 


85 


Anpetusapa, . 


91 


Absence of law, 


85 


Weenonah, 


93 


Names of months, . 


. 86 


Hogan-wanke-kin, St. Crois 




Moon eaten by mice, 


. 87 


River, 


94 


Looking-glass, 


. 87 


Language of Dahkotahs, 


95 


Peculiar views, 


. 87 


Hennepin collecting a vocabu 




Belief in relation to future, 


. 87 


lary, .... 


95 


Burial ceremonies', . 


. 88 


Riggs's Lexicon, 


. 96 


Death song, . 


. 89 


Dahkotah Alphabet, 


. 97 



CONTENTS. 



IX 



CHAPTER IV. 



Source of St. Lawrence in Min- 




Hurons at La Pointe, 


. 106 


nesota, .... 


99 


Guerin, Menard's companion, 


106 


Cartier discovers the mouth, . 


99 


Menard lost, . 


. 107 


Champlain in Huron country, 


99 


Allouez succeeds Menard, 


. 107 


Nicolet, in Wisconsin, 


100 


Arrives at La Pointe, 


108 


Le Jeune's mention of Dahko- 




Grand Council, 


108 


tahs, 


101 


Allouez meets Dahkotahs, 


109 


Jogues and Raymbault at Sault 




First mention of the " Mes 




St. Marie, .... 


101 


sipi" .... 


110 


Traders west of Lake Superior, 


102 


Description of Dahkotahs, 


110 


Garreau and Dreuilletes, 


102 


Marquette succeeds Allouez, 


111 


Puritan Eliot, 


102 


His opinion of the Dahkotahs 


111 


Two traders visit Dahkotahs, . 


103 


Number of Dahkotah villages 


112 


Their description, . 


103 


La Pointe Mission abandoned 


113 


Grosellier, .... 


103 


Dahkotahs killed at Sault St 




Murder of Garreau, 


104 


Marie, 


113 


Rene Menard, 


104 


Ojibways intermarry with Dah- 




His farewell letter, 


104 


kotahs, 


113 


Arrival in Lake Superior, 


105 







CHAPTER V. 



Fur trade 

Fascination of the business . 
Licenses granted to old officers, 

r Clerks 

Voyageurs, .... 
Careless and hardy class, 
Fondness for the frontier, 
Complaints against coureurs 
des bois, .... 
Meaning of the expression, . 
Number of annual licenses, . 
Profits of the trade, 
Nicholas Perrot, 



115 Perrot a Canadian, . .119 

115 Visits tribes of Lake Michigan, 120 

115 Council at Sault St. Marie, . 120 

115 French take possession of 

116 North-west, . . .121 

116 Trading post at head of Lake 

117 Superior, .... 121 
Du Luth visits Minnesota, . 122 

117 Intendant of Canada dis- 

117 pleased, . . . .122 

118 Mille Lac called Lake Buade, 122 

119 Perrot's account attracts La 

119 Salle, 123, 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 



La Salle at Kingston, 

Louis Hennepin, 

His early life, 

Not a Jesuit, . 

Embarks for Canada, 

At the Falls of Niagara 

Visits Albany, 

La Salle launches the Griffin, 

He builds Fort Crevecoeur, 

Sends Hennepin to Upper Mis- 
sissippi, 

Hennepin seized by the Dahko 
tahs, .... 

Indians astonished at prayer 
book, .... 

First mention of a Dahkotah 
word, .... 

Hennepin at Lake Pepin, 

Old mode of kindling fire, 

Indians land near St. Paul 

Journey to Mille Lac, 

Hennepin's robe, . 

Sweating cabin, 

Astonishment at mariner's 
compass, . . 

The mystery of an iron pot, 

Amazement at writing, . 



124 Ridicule of the Indians, . 
124 First infant baptism in Minne- 

124 nesota, .... 

125 Arrival of distant Indians, 

125 Hope of a Northern Pacific route, 

126 Hennepin's falsehoods, . 

126 List of editions of his travels, 

127 Calliere's opinion of Hennepin, 
127 Louis XIV. orders his arrest, 

Hennepin in Italy, 

127 DuLuth,discoverer of Mille Lac 
Du Luth in France, 

128 Du Luth at Mackinaw, . 
Perrot near the mouth of Wis 

129 consin, 

Droll strategy of Dahkotahs, 

129 Miamies bring lead, 

130 Du Luth and Perrot obtain 

130 allies for Iroquois war, 

131 Louis XIV. censures Du Luth 
131 Du Luth at a post above De 

131 troit, .... 

132 Du Luth and Tonty at Detroit, 
Du Luth captures Englishmen, 

132 Du Luth in New York, . 

132 Afflicted with gout, 

133 Notice of his death, 



133 

134 

134 
135 
135 
136 
137 
137 
137 
138 
138 
138 

13a 
139 
139 

139 
140 

140 
141 
141 
141 

142 
142 



CHAPTER VII. 



Formal occupation of Minne- 
sota, 

First official document, . 

Boisguillot at the Wisconsin, 

Mantantons 

First French post in Minnesota, 

Frontenac's opposition to Je- 
suits, 

Perrot visits Montreal, . 

Grand feast of Frontenac, 





Frontenac sings the war song, 


147 


143 


Long-expected furs, 


147 


143 


Le Sueur at La Pointe, . 


148 


144 


Second post in Minnesota, 


148 


144 


First Dahkotah in Montreal, . 


148 


145 


Ojibway chief from La Pointe, 


148 




His speech, .... 


149 


145 


Dahkotah's speech, 


149 


146 


Dahkotah woman iu Montreal, 


isa 


146 


Dahkotah chief dies, 


151 



CONTENTS. 



xi 



Le Sueur goes to France, 
Perrot about to be burned, 
Le Sueur's mining project, 



151 Louis XIV. revokes his license, 

151 Le Sueur's second visit to 

152 France 



153 



153 



CHAPTER VIII. 



D'Iberville Governor of Lour 



Dahkotahs sue for favour, 



siana, . 


154 


Canoes filled with blue earth, 


165 


Relative of Le Sueur, 


154 


Mantantons visit the post, 


165 


Le Sueur arrives with miners, 


154 


M'dewakantons at Mille Lac, 


165 


Ascends the Mississippi, 


154 


Assineboines, 


166 


Marest's letter to Le Sueur, 


154 


Ioways and Ottoes moving- 




Le Sueur meets Dahkotah war- 




west, 


166 


riors, 


155 


Dahkotahs mourn the death of 




At the mines near Galena, 


155 


Tioscate, .... 


167 


Canadians attacked by "Wis 




Le Sueur makes presents, 


168 


consin Indians, . 


156 


Cultivation of the earth pro- 




Le Sueur at mouth of Wiscon 




posed, .... 


168 


sin, 


156 


Mantantons give a feast, 


168 


War party returning fron: 


L 


M'dewakantons at the post, . 


169 


Minnesota, . 


. 157 


Catalogue of Dahkotah vil- 




Le Sueur at Chippeway river 


158 


lages, .... 


170 


Lake Pepin, . 


159 


Le Sueur returns to Gulf of 




Cannon river, 


. 159 


Mexico, .... 


171 


La Place, a deserter, killed b} 


r 


Acccompanies D'Iberville to 




Dahkotahs, 


160 


France, .... 


171 


Denis, Canadian voyageur, 


. 160 


D'Iberville's manuscript, 


171 


St. Croix river named after s 


i 


State of the tribes, 


172 


Frenchman, 


161 


Census of Indians, Mississip- 




River St. Pierre entered, 


161 


pi valley, 


173 


Blue Earth river, . 


. 162 


Frenchmen should not follow 




Post established, 


. 162 


Indians, .... 


173 


Dahkotahs desire a post neai 




Canada and Louisiana govern- 




Mendota, 


162 


ments, .... 


174 


Dahkotahs described, 


163 


Workmen leave Mahkahto, 


175 


Fort L'Huillier finished, 


164 


Le Sueur's death, . 


175 



164 



CHAPTER IX. 



Westward tendency of Dahko- Sauks and Foxes defeated by 

tahs, 176 Dahkotahs and Ioways, . 176 

Sauk and Fox hostility to Language of the Foxes, not 

French, . . . .176 Algonquin, . . 176 



Foxes attack Detroit, 
Their repulse, 

Defeat near Lake St. Clair, . 
Louvigny invades the Fox 

country, .... 
Foxes break their treaty, 
Licenses to traders renewed, . 
Prediction of English mastery, 
Captain St. Pierre sent to La 

Pointe, .... 
De Lignery concludes peace 

with Foxes, 
Peace between Ojibways and 

Dahkotahs, .... 
La Pointe Ojibways at Mon- 
treal, . . 
Foxes again faithless, 
Lake Pepin re-occupied by 

French, .... 
Importance of the post urged, 
DeLignery's expedition against 

Foxes, .... 

Foxes leave their country, 



CONTENTS. 




177 


Father Guignas captured, 


186 


177 


Returns to Lake Pepin, . 


186 


178 


Establishment at Lake Ouini- 






pigori, ^ ... 


186 


178 


Veranderie discovers Lake 




179 


Winnipeg, .... 


187 


179 


Alleged pillars of stone, 


187 


179 


Aiton's letter on stone heaps, 


187 




Stone heaps near Red Wing, . 


188 


180 


Dahkotahs attack Veranderie, 
Extermination of Foxes deter- 


189 


180 


mined, .... 
Moran, captain of the expedi- 


* 189 


181 


tion, 


189 




Moran's strategy, . 


190 


181 


Final defeat of the Foxes, 


190 


182 


De Lusignan visits Dahkotahs, 
Coureurs des bois refuse to re- 


191 


183 


turn, 


191 


184 


Trading-post burned, 


191 




St. Pierre at Mackinaw, 


191 


185 


His character, 


191 


186 


Escape of Indian prisoners, . 


192 



CHAPTER X. 



Canada and English colonies 

at war 193 

French enlist savages, . . 193 
Le Due robbed at Lake Supe- 
rior, 194 

La Ronde, officer at La Pointe, 194 
Veranderie at Fond du Lac, . 194 
Marin at Green Bay, . . 194 
List of Upp^r Indian allies, . 194 
St. Pierre in the state of Penn- 
sylvania, . . . .195 
Beaujeu and De Lignery at 

Fort Duquesne, . . . 195 
Beaujeu killed while attack- 
ing Braddock, . . . 195 
St. Pierre killed at Lake Cham- 
plain, 195 



Langlade of Wisconsin, at Ti- 

conderoga, . 
Ioways and Ojibways at Ticon 

deroga, 
List of Upper Indians, . 
Rogers and Jonathan Carver 

at Fort George, . 
Rogers's amusing note, . 
Ojibways returning, die of 

small-pox, . 
French deliver up their posts 
English troops at Green Bay, 
Dahkotahs visit, and make 

peace, .... 
Penneshaw a French trader 
His influence with Dahkotahs 
Friendly to the English, 



196 

197 
197 

198 

198 

199 
199 
199 

199 
199 
200 
200 



CONTENTS. 



xiii 



CHAPTER XL 



Indians partial to French tra- 
ders, 201 

^Jonathan Carver's early life, . 202 
At Fort William Henry, . .202 

Visits Mackinaw, . . . 202 

Arrives at Green Bay, . . 202 
Carver's description of Prairie 

du Chien, . . . .203 

Artificial earth works, . . 203 
Lake Pepin, . . . .206 
Nehogatawonahs, Mawtaw- 
bauntowahs, Shashweento- 

wahs, 206 

Carver's Cave in suburb of St. 

Paul, 207 

Indian burial place, . . 207 

Minnesota river, . . . 208 

Falls of St. Anthony in 1766, 208 

Mound near St. Paul opened, . 208 

Exploration of Carver's Cave, 208 

Dahkotahs at Carver's Cave, . 210 

Speech over dead chief, . . 211 

Versification, by Schiller, . 212 
Sir Wm. Johnson in relation 

to Ojibways, . . . 212 
Rogers makes a treaty with 

Dahkotahs and Ojibways, . 213 



Prediction of speedy route to 

New York, .... 213 
Carver's Pacific route, . . 214 
Supposed origin of Dahkotahs, 214 
Analogies of language, . . 215 
Carver's death, . . . 215 
Claim of his heirs, . . . 215 
Marriage of Carver's daughter, 216 
Alleged deed given at Cave 

near St. Paul, . . .216 
Agent of Carver's heirs mur- 
dered, ... .216 
Rev. Samuel Peters purchases 

Carver claim, . . . 217 
Testimony before Senate com- 
mittee, . . . .217 
General Leavenworth's letter, 218 
Indians do not recognise the 

grant, . . . .218 

Frenchmen cut timber on Chip- 

peway, .... 219 
Report of Senate committee in 

1823, 219 

British government prohibited 

grants, . . . .220 
Lord Palmerston finds no pa- 
pers about the grant, . . 221 



CHAPTER XII. 



Dahkotahs formerly at Leech 
Lake, . 

Driven from Sandy Lake, 

Fight at mouth of Crow Wing, 
\ Pillagers, origin of name, 

Battle of Falls of St. Croix r . 

Foxes and Dahkotahs defeated, 

English trader killed by Dah- 
kotahs, .... 

Murder near Mendota, . 

British withdraw their trade, 



Wapashaw, .... 226 

222 Determines to visit Quebec, . 227 
222 Delivers himself, . . .227 

222 Winters in Canada, . . 227 

223 Wapashaw dies an exile, . 228 

223 Depeyster commands Mack- 

224 inaw, 228 

Wapashaw visits him, . . 228 

225 Song for Wapashaw, . . 228 

225 Troop leaves Mackinaw, . 229 

226 Langlade at Prairie du Chien, 229 



xiv 


CONTENTS. 




Wapashaw at Prairie du Chien, 




Winters at Pine river, . 


234 


1780, . . . . 


230 


Kay stabbed by an Indian, 


235 


Speech to the Foxes, 


230 


Perrault and Harris at Leech 




Peltries taken by British to 




Lake, .... 


236 


Mackinaw, 


230 


Dubuque at Prairie du Chien, 


236 


M'dewakantonwans in one 




The lead mines of Dubuque, 


236 


band, ...... 


231 


Renville, Grignon, and Dick- 




Penneshaw's village, 


231 


son, .... 


236 


History of North-west Com- 




Perlier falls in love on the St. 




pany, 


231 


Croix, 


237 


Clerks, 


232 


North-west Company build al 




Pork Eaters, .... 


232 


Sandy Lake, 


23& 


Winterers, .... 


232 


British do not surrender posts 


238 


Kay in Minnesota, 


233 


Jay's treaty, . 


239 


Kay intoxicated, 


233 







CHAPTER XIII. 



Indiana organized, 

Louisiana transferred, . 

Territory of Upper Louisiana, 

Territory of Michigan, . 

First United States officer in 
Minnesota, .... 

Pike's expedition, . 

Pike at Kaposia, 

J. B. Faribault, sketch of 

Sketch of Fisher, the trader, 

Pike's council on island, 

Articles of treaty, . 

Pike's speech to Dahkotahs, . 

Flag lost, .... 

Portage at Falls of St. An- 
thony, .... 

Sergeant breaks a blood-vessel, 

Pike's block house, 

Complaints against Dickson, . 

Dickson visits Pike, 

Ascent of the Mississippi, 

Sled falls into the river, 

Baggage wet, 

Ignorance and inattention of 
voyageurs, .... 

Ojibway encampment 



240 


Pike's indignation at British 




240 


flag, 


255 


241 


Tent on fire, .... 


256 


241 


Sandy Lake, .... 
North-west Company's post at 


256 


241 


Sandy Lake described, 


257 


241 


Arrival from Fond du Lac, .. 


258 


242 


Leech Lake, .... 


259 


242 


North-west Company's post, . 


259 


242 


American flag hoisted, . 


259 


243 


English flag lowered, 


260 


243 


Council with Ojibway s, . 


260 


244 


Pike at Red Cedar Lake, 


261 


248 


Shabby actions of Pike's ser- 






geant, .... 


262 


248 


Peculiar hospitality, 


265 


249 


Arrival at mouth of Minnesota, 


266 


249 


Carver's Cave not found, 


267 


250 


Conference with Little Crow, 


268 


251 


Pike at Red Wing, 


269 


252 


The murderer, Roman Nose, . 


270 


253 


Pike ascends the Barn blufF, . 


271 


253 


Pike visits Wapashaw, . 


272 




Pike at Prairie du Chien, 


273 


254 


Ball play, .... 


274 


254 


Red Thunder, Yankton chief, 


275 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEK XIV. 



Traders disregards Pike's in- 




Zachary Taylor retreats from 




structions, .... 


276 


Rock Island, 


286 


Cameron, principal trader, 


276 


Daring of Paul Harpole, 


286 


His grave, .... 


276 


One-eyed Sioux, 


286 


Milor, old voyageur, 


276 


Dickson imprisons him, . 


287 


His perilous journey, 


277 


British evacuate Prairie du 




Indians combine against Uni- 




Chien, .... 


287 


ted States, .... 


278 


Sketch of one-eyed Sioux, 


288 


Nicholas Jarrot, 


278 


Dickson at Lake Traverse, 


287 


Messengers from Tecumseh, . 


279 


Prejudice against Selkirk, 


290 


Dickson, his character and in- 




O'Fallon's letter, . 


290 


fluence, .... 


279 


Dickson's character misrepre- 




Dickson a British partisan, 


280 


sented, .... 


291 


Mackinaw surprised, 


280 


Ramsay Crooks on Dickson, . 


291 


Rolette and Langlade present, 


280 


Wapashaw and Little Crow 




Kaposia and Wapashaw bands 




visit British, 


292 


at Fort Meigs, 


281 


Treaty of Portage des Sioux, 


293 


Refuse to eat an American, . 


282 


Astor organizes a fur com- 




Americans fortify Prairie du 




pany, 


293 


Chien, .... 


283 


History of Astor's company, . 


293 


Site of Fort Shelby, 


283 


Lockwood trader in Minnesota, 


294 


British attack the fort, . 


284 


Indian trade in 1816, 


294 


Joseph Rolette, British guide, 


284 


First grist-mill above Prairie 




Americans capitulate, 


285 


du Chien, .... 


298 


Americans attacked near Rock 




Saw-mill on Black river, 


298 


Island, .... 


285 


Spartan conflict of Ojibways, 


298 


Fort Shelby called McKay, . 


285 







CHAPTER XV. 



Red River difficulties, 

Early posts on the northern 

border, 
Formation of North-west Com 

pany, .... 
Earl of Selkirk's project, 
Selkirk's grant described, 
Pioneers of Selkirk colony, 
Winter at Pembina, 
Colony augmented, 
Tbe North-west Company op 

pose, .... 



300 Duncan Cameron, . . . 305 
Selkirk storehouse broken 

300 open, 306 

First Selkirk emigrants Pres- 

301 byterians, . . . .306 

301 Colonists driven away, . . 307 

302 Return to Red river, . . 308 

303 Earl of Selkirk comes to 

303 America, . . . .308 

304 Messenger to Red river robbed, 309 
Governor Semple attacked, . 310 

305 Massacre of his party, . .311 



XY1 

Selkirk settlers again exiled, . 
Owen Keveny seized, 
His murder, .... 
His trunks opened and papers 

read, 

Earl of Selkirk seizes Fort 

William 

John Tanner discovered, 
Sketch of Tanner, . 
Selkirk's interest in Tanner, . 



312 


Sufferings at Pembina, 1817, 




312 


1818, . . . 


315 


313 


Grasshopper invasion, . 


316 




Complete devastation, 


31& 


313 


Mackinaw boats from Prairie 






du Chien to Pembina, 


317 


314 


Selkirk's agent visits Switzer- 




314 


land, 


31& 


314 


Compromise of Hudson Bay 




315 


and North-west Company, . 


zm 



CHAPTER XVI. 



United States fortify the North- 
west, 

Orders to proceed to Mendota, 

Crawford county, Wisconsin, 
organized, .... 

Colonel Leavenworth ascends 



Primitive mode of living, 

Troops move to Camp Cold- 
water, .... 

Lumber cut on Rum river, 

Cass expedition, 

Negro and Indian offspring, . 

Arrival of Cass at Sandy Lake, 

At Upper Red Cedar Lake, . 

This lake the supposed source 
of Mississippi, . 

Emaciated and suffering voy- 
ageur, .... 

Buffalo hunt above Elk river, 

Cass at Fort Snelling, . 

Description of Little Crow, . 

Red Wing and Wapashaw in 
1820, . . 

Colonel Snelling met by Cass, 

First infant of European pa- 
rents, .... 

Wanata hostile, 



Chief offers himself as a substi- 

319 tute for son, . . . 32a 

319 Solemnity of surrender, . 329= 
Saw-mill in Chippeway valley, 330 

320 Columbia Fur Company form- 

ed, 330 

320 Names of partners, . . 330 

320 Mill at Minneapolis, . . 331 
J. R. Brown visits Minne 

321 Tonka, .... 331 

322 Family of Hess murdered, . 332 
322 Rescue of a daughter, . . 332 

322 Swiss come to United States, 

323 from Red river, . . . 333 
323 First steamboat above Rock 

Island, .... 334 

323 Passengers on board, . . 334 
Grand illumination, . . 335 

324 Arrival of steamboat at Men- 

324 dota, 336 

325 Astonishment of natives, . 336 

326 Reminiscences of Taliaferro, . 337 
Origin of name Lake Calhoun 

327 and Harriet, . . .338 
327 Flat Mouth at Fort Snelling, . 339' 

Penneshaw's mother kills Ojib- 

327 way girl 340^ 

328 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Major Long's expedition to 

Red river, .... 341 
Arrival at Fort Snelling, . 341 
Renville, interpreter, . . 342 
J. Snelling, assistant, . . 342 
Beltrami, Italian refugee, . 342 
Arrival at Big Stone Lake, . 342 
Wanata's appearance and cha- 
racter, .... 343 
Wanata's vow to the Sun, . 344 
Cuttings of the flesh, . . 344 
Wanata feasts Long and party, 346 
Dog meat presented, . . 347 
Origin of word Pembina, . 348 
Boundary line at that point 

fixed, 348 

Tanner wounded by an Indian, 349 
Beltrami separates from Major 

Long, 349 

Returns by way of Red Lake, 350 
Beltrami's characteristics, . 350 
Beltrami deserted by his guides, 353 
Awkward attempt at paddling, 354 
The difficulties of travel, . 355 
Indians' astonishment at um- 
brella, . . . .357 
Ludicrous appearance of Bel- 
trami, .... 357 
Fear of the Dahkotahs, . . 358 
Beltrami at Red Lake, . . 359 
Dogs tear his clothing, . . 360 
Ojibways mourn the loss of a 

brave, . . . .361 

Half-breed hut described, . 362 

Notice of Red river, . . 363 

Topography of Red Lake, . 364 



Theory of old geographers in 
relation to what constitutes 

the sources of a stream, . 366 

Beltrami leaves Red Lake, . 367 

Table land of North America, 368 
Beltrami discoverer of northern 

source of Mississippi, . 36$ 

Beautiful description, . . 370 

Indian stories unreliable, . 371 
Beltrami suggests western 

source of Mississippi, . 371 

Leech Lake described, . . 372 
Interview of the Italian with 

Pillagers, . . . .373 
Pike makes Leech Lake source 

of Mississippi, . . . 374 
Beltrami's tribute to Pike, . 375 
William Morrison's letter, . 375 
Morrison at Leech Lake, 1802, 375 
Morrison at Lake Itasca, 1804, 376 
Wintered there in 1811-12, . 375 
Beltrami at Sandy Lake, . 377 
Government mill, . . . 378 
Beltrami returns to Fort Snel- 
ling, 379 

Cordial reception, . . . 380 
Accuracy of Beltrami's map, . 380 
Underrated by Long and Keat- 
ing, 380 

Findlay and party killed at 

Lake Pepin, . . .381 
Degraded state of traders and 

Indians, .... 382 
Traders among Dahkotahs, 

1825-26 382 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Prairie du Chien treaty of Boundary fixed between Dah- 

1825, 383 kotahs and Ojibways, . . 383 

2 



CONTENTS. 



Fond du Lac treaty, 1826, 

Commissioners Cass and Mc- 
Kenney, .... 

Aged woman scalped when a 
girl, 

Woman in council, 

Agreement to deliver up mur- 
derers, .... 

Cass orders a canoe, 

Building of birch bark canoe, 

Murderers surrender them- 
selves, .... 

Severe snow storm, 1825, 

Famine, 

Freshet in Ked River valley, . 

Swiss emigrants home-sick, . 

Swiss move to vicinity of St. 
Paul, 

Swiss, the first farmers in Min- 
nesota, .... 

Ojibways at Fort Snelling,1826, 

Slaughtered by the Dahkotahs, 

Ojibway revenge, . 



384 Dahkotah coward, . . .393 
Troops removed from Prairie 

384 du Chien, . . . .394 
Methode and family killed, . 394 

385 Red Bird at Prairie du Chien, 395 

385 Attempts to kill Mrs. Lock- 

wood, 395 

386 Murders the Gagnier family, . 395 

386 Dahkotahs unruly, . . 396 

387 Winn ebagoes attack keel-boats, 396 
The father's wail, . . .397 

387 Fort Crawford put in a state 

388 of defence, . . . .397 

388 Cass at Buttes des Morts, . 397 

389 Soldiers march from Green 

389 Bay, 398 

General Atkinson starts for the 

390 scene, .... 398 
Red Bird described, . . 398 

390 His dress, . . . .399 

391 The surrender, . . .399 
391 Death in prison, . . .399 
392 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Prairie du Chien treaty, 1830, 400 
Half-breed tract of Lake Pe- 
pin, 400 

Attempt to erect a mill, . . 400 
Holmes builds a mill on Chip- 
pewa river, . . . 401 
Schoolcraft visits Ojibways in 

1831, 401 

Snake river chief, . . . 402 
Schoolcraft's expedition of 

1832, 403 

Associates of Schoolcraft, . 403 
Child of Rev. S. Hall, first 
child of pure European stock 
on Lake Superior, . . 404 
Portage of St. Louis river, . 404 
Strength of Indian women, . 404 
Dahkotah scalp at Cass 
Lake, 405 



Grand scalp dance, . . 406 

Indian burial place, . . 406 

Elk or Itasca Lake, . . 407 
Lieut. Allen surveys and makes 

a map, .... 407 

Allen's canoe upsets, . . 408 
Flat Mouth's lodge at Leech 

Lake, 408 

Vaccination of Indians, . 409 

Beautiful country, . . . 409 

Good soil 410 

Falls of St. Anthony, . . 410 
Schoolcraft talks with Dahko- 
tahs, 411 

Haste of Schoolcraft, . .411 
Hostile intentions of Black 

Hawk 412 

Dahkotahs, allies of United 
States, . . . .412 



CONTENTS. 



Black Hawk routed by Dodge, 
Battle of Bad Axe, 
General Z. Taylor present, 
Preservation of Indian babe, . 
Black Hawk surrenders, 
Alleged speech of that chief, . 
First land mail to Fort Snel- 

ling, .... 
Traders in Minnesota, 1833-34, 
Missouri Territory attached to 

Michigan, .... 
Wisconsin Territory organized, 
Iowa organized, 
George Catlin, the artist, 
Featherstonhaugh, geologist, . 
Nicollet, the astronomer, 



412 Nicollet's early life, . . 417 

413 Arrival in Minnesota, . . 417 

413 Pillagers molest Nicollet, . 418 

414 Rev. Mr. Boutwell assists him,. 418 
414 Nicollet visits Itasca Lake, . 418 

414 Surveys the sources of Itasca, 418 
Explorations beyond Sehool- 

415 craft, 419 

415 Devotion to science, . . 419 
Nicollet's second tour, . . 419 

416 J. C. Fremont, his assistant, . 419 
416 Valuable map, ... 420 
416 Leech Lake Ojibways kill a 

416 trader, . . . .421 

416 Sibley's tribute to Nicollet, . 421 
417 



CHAPTER XX. 



History of missions, 

Frontispiece of La Hontan's 
travels, .... 

Savages no regard for law, 

Youth trained to war, 

Error in the teachings of Mar- 
quette, .... 

Rev. Dr. Morse visits Macki- 
naw, . 

Rev. Mr. Ferry opens mission 
school, .... 

On manual labour principle, . 

Warren trader at La Pointe, . 

Introduction of missionaries 
by him, .... 

Rev. Sherman Hall, 

Mr. Frederic Ayer, 

Mode of travel through Lake 
Superior, .... 

Rev. S. Hall's arrival at La 
Pointe, .... 

Aitkin requests a school at 
Sandy Lake, 

Hall's tour to Oakes' trading 
post, 



422 Mode of carrying goods at a 

portage, .... 429 
422 Mr. Ayer arrives at Yellow 

422 Lake, • 431 

423 Rev. W. T. Boutwell at Leech 

Lake, 432 

423 First mission in Minnesota west 

of Mississippi, . . . 432 

424 E. F. Ely, teacher at Sandy 

Lake, . . . .432 

424 Indian children in missionary's 

424 lap, 433 

425 Indians laugh at missionary, . 434 
Number and locality of Leech 

425 Lake Indians, . . . 435 
425 Fish of the Lake, . . .436 

425 Wild rice, .... 436 
Soil around the lake, . . 436 

426 Danger of gifts to the Indians, 437 
Polygamy common, . . 438 

427 Mr. Boutwell married, . . 439 
Primitive mode of life, . . 440 

428 Jesuits did not stay with Dah- 

kotahs, .... 441 

428 S. W. Pond, .... 441 



XX 



CONTENTS. 



G. H. Pond, . . . .441 
First to labour for the welfare 

of Dahkotahs, . . . 441 
Rev. T. S. Williamson, M. D., 442 
Arrives at Fort Snelling, May, 

1835, 442 

First church and communion 

in Minnesota, . . . 443 
Indian mode of gathering corn, 443 
Fondness of Dahkotahs for 

meat, 444 



Rev. J. D. Stevens preaches at 

Fort Snelling, . . . 44& 
Indian mourning at Lake Har- 
riet, 445 

Mourners cut their flesh, . 446 
Church at Fort Snelling, . 446 
Indian school at Lake Harriet, 447 
Presbyterian church, Lac qui 

Parle, 447 

Rev. S. R. Riggs joins the mis- 
sion, 447 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Buffaloes unknown in Lower 




G. H. Pond buries slaughtered 




Canada, .... 


448 


Dahkotahs, 


455 


Rumour in relation to lions' 




Ojibways chase lumbermen, . 


456 


skins, . . . . 


448 


First steamboat in the St. 




Marquette's description of the 




Croix, .... 


456 


buffalo, .... 


448 


Ratification of treaty of 1837, 


456 


First engraving of the buffalo, 


449 


Marine mills, 


456 


Hudson Bay Co. buffalo hunters, 


449 


Dahkotah killed at Lake Har- 




Carts of the half-breeds, 


449 


riet, 


457 1 


Hunters' camp described, 


450 


Battles of Rum river and 


1 


Rules of the camp, 


450 


Stillwater, .... 


457 1 


Great buffalo hunt in Minne- 




Settlers on Fort Snelling re- 


1 


sota, 


450 


serve, .... 


458 1 


Last buffalo east of Mississippi, 


451 


Forcible ejection, . 


459 1 


Pemmican, .... 


451 


Death of Arctic explorer in 


1 


Dickson's proposed invasion, . 


.452 


Minnesota, 


460 1 


McLeod and Bottineau's peri- 




Supposed insanity, 


461 1 


lous journey, 


452 


J. R. Brown makes a claim 


1 


Swiss missionaries at Red 




near Stillwater, . 


462 1 


Wing, .... 


452 


St. Croix county, . 


463 1 


Methodist mission at Kaposia, 


452 


Lake Pokeguma, . 


463 1 


Treaty of 1837 with Ojibways, 


453 


Mission at Pokeguma, . 


464 1 


Dahkotah treaty of 1837, 


453 


Pleasing prospect, . 


464 1 


Faribault's claim to Pike 




Little Crow's son killed at 


I 


Island, .... 


453 


Falls of St. Croix, 


465 1 


Baker, Taylor, and Steele at 




Battle of Lake Pokeguma, 


466 1 


Falls of St. Croix, 


453 


Daring feat, .... 


467 1 


Visit of Captain Maryatt, 


453 


Scene after the fight, 


468 1 


Small-pox among Dahkotahs, 


454 


Christian burial, 


468 1 



CONTENTS. 



Ojibway attack below St. Paul, 
Mr. Ayer visits Red Lake, 
Governor Doty makes treaties 

with Dahkotahs, . 
Stillwater commenced, . 
Captain Allen's tour to Big 

Sioux, .... 

Mill at Little Canada, . 
Drovers lose their way, . 
Captain Sumner and dragoons 

visjt Red River, 
Murderer of one of the drovers 

arrested, .... 
Death of Joseph Renville, 
Sketch of Renville, 
One-eyed whiskey-seller, 
Residence at St. Paul, . 
His shanty called Pig's Eye, . 
Henry Jackson settles at St. 

Paul, 



469 Roberts and J. W. Simpson, . 480 

470 Little Crow requests a mission- 

ary, 480 

470 Dr. Williamson comes to Ka- 

471 posia, . . . .480 
Procures a teacher for St. Paul, 481 

472 Miss H. E. Bishop, . . 482 
472 First school-room in St. Paul, 482 
472 First court in St. Croix county, 

Wisconsin 483 

472 Rev. Mr. Boutwell moves near 

Stillwater, . . . .483 

473 H. M. Rice selects a new home, 

474 for Winnebagoes, . . 483 

474 Winnebago removal, . . 484 

475 Halt at Wapashaw, . . 484 

476 Excitement, . . . .485 
478 Battle array, . • .486 

Winnebagoes arrive at Watab, 487 
479 



CHAPTER XXII. 



Act for Wisconsin to form a 
constitution, . . . 488 

Bill for organization of Minne- 
sota, 1846, ." . . .488 

Sioux and Red River of North, 
proposed boundary, . 488 

Wisconsin desires to extend to 
Rum river, .... 488 

Remonstrance of citizens of St. 
Croix, . . . .489 

Wisconsin admitted into the 
Union 490 

Debate on the name of Minne- 
sota Territory, . . . 490 

Discussion on territorial organ- 
ization, .... 490 

First meeting in St. Paul, . 490 

Public meeting at Stillwater, . 490 

Catlin's letter to Holcombe, . 491 

Catlin resides at Stillwater, . 492 



The delegate from Wisconsin 

resigns, .... 492 

H. H. Sibley elected successor, 492 
Minnesota Territory created, 

March 3, 1849, . . .492 
Boundaries of territory, . 492 
Sparse settlements, . . 493 
St. Paul in 1849, . . .494 
Steamer brings news of the ex- 
istence of Minnesota Terri- 
tory, ..... 494 
Joyful demonstrations, . . 494 
Goodhue arrives with press, . 494 
Governor Ramsey and family 

arrive, .... 495 
List of early citizens at the 

capital, .... 495 

First newspaper, . . . 495 

Sketch of Governor Ramsey, . 496 

Anna Earl Ramsey, . . 497 



xxn 



CONTENTS. 



Sketch of Governor Sibley, . 

Notice of Mrs. Sibley, . 

Sketch of H. M. Rice, U. S. 
Senator, .... 

Notice of Mrs. Rice, 

Franklin Steele, 

Notice of Mrs. Steele, . 

Fish dance at Kaposia, . 

Proclamation of Governor Ram- 
sey, organizing the terri- 
tory, . 

C. K. Smith, . 

A. Goodrich, . 

D. Cooper, 

B. B. Meeker, 
J. L. Taylor, . 
H. L. Moss, . 
Temporary judicial districts, . 
Major Wood's expedition to 

Pembina, .... 

Governor Ramsey commences 
housekeeping at St. Paul, . 

H. M. Rice and family remove 
to St. Paul, 

Fourth of July at St. Paul, . 

First census, ... 

Recognition and death of a 
young chief, . 

Indian fight in Cheyenne val- 
ley, . . . 

Tipsinna or Dahkotah turnip, 

H. M. Rice transports goods 
by horse-boats, . 

First election, 

A. M. Mitchell, U. S. Marshal, 

Vote at first election, 

Newspapers, when established, 

Old printing press, 

Court at Stillwater, 



497 Court at Minneapolis, . . 509 

498 Court at Mendota, . . . 509 
Temperance reform among 

498 Dahkotahs, . . . 510 

500 Session of first legislature, . 511 

500 Names, age, and nativity of 

501 members, . . . .511 

501 Officers of first legislature, . 511 
Governor Ramsey's message, . 512 
Funeral of child of a member 

502 of legislature, . . .512 
502 Counties formed, . . . 513 
502 Resolution in relation to pipe 

502 stone slab, . . . .513 

502 Sibley's letter on red pipe 

502 stone, 514 

502 History of Pipe Stone Quarry, 514 

503 Nicollet's description of red 

pipe stone, .... 515 

503 Allusions to pipe stone in Hia- 

watha, . . . .515 

504 Territorial seal described, . 516 
Captain and Mrs. Eastman, . 516 

504 Poem by Mrs. Eastman, . 517 
504 Ramsey and Chambers, com- 

504 missioners to treat with In- 
dians, 518 

505 The project unsuccessful, . 518 
Organization of Democratic 

506 party, 518 

506 Death of David Lambert, . 519 
Notice of D. Lambert, . .519 

507 Meeting in behalf of public 

507 schools 520 

507 Names of first school teachers, 520 

507 County elections, . . . 520 

508 St. Anthony Library Associa- 

508 ciation, . . . .521 
509 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Historical Society, . . . 522 Carrier Boys' Address, Jan. 
First public meeting of His- 1, 1850, . • . . .523 

iorical Society, . . . 522 Marriage at Fort Snelling, , 523 



CONTENTS. 



Road by land to Prairie du 

Chien opened, 
First trial for murder, . 
Apple river battle, 
Scalp dance in Stillwater, 
Captive boy sent back by Gov. 
Ramsey, .... 
High water in 1850, 
' Hole-in-the-Day" scalps near 

St. Paul, . 
First Presbyterian church 
burned, .... 
Indian council at Fort Snelling, 
Description of council ground, 
Speech of Governor Ramsey, . 
Dahkotah rudeness, 
Ojibway gallantry, . 
Ojibways visit St. Paul, . 
Navigation on Minnesota be- 
gun 

Trip of the Yankee, 
Steamer at Traverse des Sioux, 
Passengers on steamer, . 
Steamer at Blue Earth, . 



Supposed buffaloes, . . 537 

524 Mosquitoes, .... 537 

525 Ice fails on board the boat, . 538 

526 Uncomfortable night, . .538 
526 Return of steamer, . . .538 

Traverse des Sioux in 1850, . 539 

526 Shokpay's village, . . . 540 

527 The ministry needed for the 

West, 541 

527 Election in September, . . 542 
Sibley and Mitchell candidates, 543 

528 Sibley elected delegate to Con- 

528 gress 543 

529 Official vote, .... 543 

530 Miss Bremer visits St. Paul, . 543 
533 Fredrika Bremer's sketch of 

533 the capital, . . . 543 

534 The Dahkotah Friend pub- 

lished, . . / . . 544 
534 D. A. Robertson, . . .544 

534 Minnesota Democrat com- 

535 menced, .... 544 

536 C. J. Henniss, editor, . . 545 

537 First Thanksgiving Day, . 545 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Legislature of 1851, 

Age and birth-place of mem- 
bers of the legislature, 

Editor stabbed, 

Bitter party feeling, 

University of Minnesota, 

Apportionment bill, 

Members resign their seats, . 

Sufferings of Ojibways, . 

Mortality at Sandy Lake, 

Hole-in-the-Day addresses le- 
gislature, .... 

Alleged cannibalism, 

Debate on school lands at 
Washington, 

Remarks of Stevens, of Penn- 
sylvania, .... 



546 Sibley's reply, . . .555 
Chronicle and Register sus- 

546 pended, .... 555 

547 Murder of Andrew Swartz, . 555 
547 Remarkable escape of mur- 

547 derers, .... 556 

548 First newspaper beyond the 

548 capital, .... 556 

549 Treaties of 1851, . . .556 

550 Lea and Ramsey, commission- 

ers, 556 

551 Rev. Mr. Hopkins drowned, . 557 

552 Thunder Bird dance, . . 558 
Treaty at Traverse des Sioux 

553 concluded, .... 559 
Provisions of the treaty, . 559 

554 Treaty at Mendota concluded, 560 



XXIV 



CONTENTS. 



Provisions of the treaty, . 560 

Indians as horse purchasers, . 561 

Shokpay as it was in 1851, . 562 
New paper started at St. 

Paul, 562 



J. P. Owens, editor of Minne- 

sotian, .... 562 

October election, . . . 563 

Second Thanksgiving Day, . 563 

Governor's Proclamation, . 563 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Legislature of 1852, 

Names of members, 

Occupation of members, 

Liquor law enacted, 

Memorial to discontinue " St. 
Peter's" as a name of Min- 
nesota river, 

Superintendent of Public In- 
struction report, 

Number of school-houses in 
Minnesota, 

Rae, Arctic explorer, in St. 
Paul, 

Exploration between Watab 
and Long Prairie, 



564 
564 
564 
565 



565 



565 



569 



570 



570 



Birch Bark Fort, . . .571 

LakeNeill, .... 572 
Special election on liquor 

law, 572 

Vote on liquor law, . . 572 
Claims before ratification of 

treaties, . . . .573 

Death of James M. Goodhue, 574 

Sketch of pioneer editor, . 574 

Editorial hoax, . . . 576 

Trial of Yuhazee for murder, . 577 

Escort of dragoons, . . 578 
Judge Hayner's decision 

against liquor law, . . 579 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



Legislature of 1853, 

Officers chosen, 

Governor Ramsey's last mes- 



Rapid growth of Minnesota, . 

Advantages of Minnesota, 

Hopeful future, . . . 

Prospective railways, 

Roman Catholic petitions, 

Proposed school law, 

Counties west of Mississippi, . 

Baldwin School, 

College of St. Paul, 

Ojibway and Dahkotah skir- 
mish at the capital, 

Burial scaffold at Kaposia, 

Appointments by President 
Pierce, .... 

Governor W. A. Gorman, 



580 


J. T. Rosser, Secretary, . 


589 


580 


W. H. Welch, Chief Justice, . 


589 




Moses Sherburne, Associate, . 


589 


581 


A. G. Chatfield, Associate, 


589 


581 


Indian villages below St. Paul, 




582 


1853 


589 


583 


Villages near Fort Snelling, . 


590 


584 


Alleged fraud of Ramsey and 




5s- 5 


Sibley, .... 


590 


586 


Presbyterian missionaries 




587 


among Dahkotahs, 


590 


587 


Honourable exculpation of 




687 


Ramsey by United States 






Senate, .... 


591 


587 


Robertson retires from edito- 




588 


rial duties, .... 


591 




David Olmsted, 


591 


588 


October election for delegate, . 


591 


589 


Official vote, . 


591 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



l$ew political coalitions, . 592 
Legislature of 1854, . .592 

Governor Gorman's message, . 593 
Members of legislature, age 

and birth-place, . . . 593 
Mission-house at Lac qui Parle 

burned, .... 594 
Minnesota and North-western 

Railroad incorporated, . 594 
E. S. Goodrich becomes editor 

of Pioneer, . . . 594 
Great railroad excursion, . 595 
Names of distinguished visiters, 595 
Pursuit of pleasure under diffi- 
culties, .... 596 
Guests at Fort Snelling, . 597 
Speeches of Fillmore and Ban- 
croft, 597 



Railroad sermon, . 


597 


Railways in a religious view, 


599 


Antidotes to bigotry, 


601 


Savers of time, 


603 


Extend Christianity, 


605 


Land grant of Congress, 


606 


Repeal of land grant, 


607 


Debate on the repeal, 


607 


Rice's letter about the repeal, 


610 


Minnesota and North-western 




Railroad suit, 


610 


Appeal to United States Su- 




preme Court, 


611 


Case dismissed, 


611 


Execution of Yuhazee, . 


611 


Governor's letter to ladies de- 




clining to pardon Yuhazee, 


612 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



Legislature of 1855, 

First bridge over the Missis- 
sippi, 

Wire bridge, .... 

Governor's message, 

Governor opposes Minnesota 
and North-western Railroad 
Company, .... 

United States Senate refuse to 
annul charter of Minnesota 
and North-western Railroad, 

General illumination, 

Governor Gorman vetoes an 
act amending charter of 
Minnesota and North-west- 
ern Railroad Company. 

Act passed by a two-thirds 
vote, 

Formation of Republican party, 



613 W. R. Marshall nominated 

delegate to Congress, . . 614 
613 David Olmsted candidate for 
613 Congress, .... 614 
613 H. M. Rice elected delegate, . 614 
Votes for delegate enumerated, 614 
Express arrives at St. Paul 
613 with relics of Sir John 

Franklin, .... 615 

Legislature of 1856, . . 615 

613 Railroad discussion, . .615 

613 Governor Gorman signs a bill 

giving extension of time to 
Minnesota and North-west- 
ern Railway Company, . 615 

614 His message on the subject, . 615 
List of members of Council of 

614 1856, 617 

614 



y 



CONTENTS. 



Mei \bers of House of Repre- 
sentatives, 1856, . 

State organization agitated by 
J. E. Warren, 

Ojibways scalp Dahkotah child 
at a farm-house, 

Legislature of 1857, 

Presidin g officers of legislature , 

Bill removing capital to St. 
Peter passes the House, 

Council resolutions of Mr. Bal- 
combe, .... 

Rolette, Chairman of Commit- 
tee of Enrolled Bills, absent, 

Call of the Council, 

Sergeant-at-arms ordered to 
report absent member in his 



Council remains in session 
under the call for several 
days, .... 

Last night of session proceed- 
ings under the call dispensed 
with, 

Committee on Enrolled Bills 
report, . 

Report, 

Call of the Council again moved, 

Under the call the session ex- 
pired, 

Council adjourned, 

Massacre at Spirit Lake and 
Springfield, 

Inkpadootah, 



617 

618 

618 
618 
618 

618 

619 

619 
619 



619 



619 



620 

620 
620 
621 

621 
621 

621 
621 



Indians fire house of settlers, 

The inmates killed, 

Murder of the Gardners, 

White women captives, . 

United States troops and vol- 
unteers bury the dead, 

Captive women maltreated, 

Mrs. Thatcher shot, 

Two Indian youths rescue Mrs. 
Marble, .... 

Paul and party rescue Miss 
Gardner, .... 

Killing of Mrs. Noble, . 

Inkpadootah's son shot, . 

Outlaws' retreat beyond the 
Missouri, .... 

Enabling act passed by Con- 
gress, 

Special session of legislature, 

Election for delegates to form 
constitution, 

Meeting of constitutional con- 
vention, .... 

Division into two bodies, 

Compromise, . . . . 

Constitution adopted by the 
people, .... 

Meeting of first state legisla- 
ture, 

Election of United States Sen- 
ators, 

Admission of Minnesota into 
the Union, . . . 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



Financial embarrassments, 

Land grant for railways, . 

Disposition of land grant, . 

Constitutional amendment loan- 
ing state credit to railway com- 
panies, 

Vote of people on the amend- 
ment, 



629 
629 
629 



630 



630 



Repeal of the amendment, 
First state legislature, 
Gov. Sibley's administration, 
State railroad bonds issued, 
Normal school law, . 
Steamboat on Red river, . 
Gov. Ramsey's administration, 
Second legislature, . 



622 
622 
622 
623 

623 
623 
624 

624 

625. 
625 

626 

626. 

62ft 
626. 

63ft- 

627 
627 
627 

628 

628 

628 

628 



631 
631 
632 
632 
633 
633 



CONTENTS. 



Educational policy inaugurated, 634 
University system, . . 633-637 
Memorial for University lands 637-639 
Mrs. Bilansky hung, . . . 640 
Third state legislature, . . 640 
School land policy, . . . 640 



Debate on public instruction, . 641 
Chancellor of University resigns, 642 
Resignation withdrawn by re- 
quest, 642 

Legislature elect Superintendent 

of Public Instruction, . . 642 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Influence of attack upon Fort Chaplain Neill's letter, . 658, 659 

Sumter, 645 Chaplain Neill's circular to 

Gov. Kamsey offers a regiment, 645 churches, .... 660 

Proclamation of Lt.-Gov. Don- Hospital fund contributed, . 661 

nelly, 645 Hospital fund distribution, . 662-664 

U. S. artillery move to the seat March from Alexandria, . 666-669 

of war, 647 Reconnoissance of Capt. Wilkin 669 

Major Pemberton joins the rebels, 647 Reconnoissance of Lt.-Col. Miller 670 

Capt. Acker raises first company Lt. Thomas brings in a negro, . 671 

of first regiment, . . .647 Bull Run battle, . . 672-681 

First regiment raised, . . 647 Javan B. Irvine's account, 672-675 

Adj.-Gen. Sanborn's order, . 648 Heintzelman's report, . 673-676 

Regiment mustered for three Chaplain Neill's Journal, . 675-681 

years, 649 Gen. Franklin's report, . 676, 677 

Flag presentation, . . . 649 Col. Gorman's report, . 678-681 

First regiment's departure, . 650 Col. N. J. T. Dana, . . . 682 

Chaplain's address, . . . 650 First regiment near Ball's Bluff, 

Staff officers first regiment, . 650 682, 683 

Departure from St. Paul, . . 651 Second regiment organized, . 683 

Opinions of Chicago editors, . 652 Second regiment officers, . 683, 684 

First regiment at Alexandria, . 653 Sharp-shooters' company, . . 684 

Fourth of July in Virginia, . 655 Third regiment organized, . 684 

Runaway slave, .... 656 First battery organized, . . 684 

Religious service in camp, . 657 Cavalry companies organized, . 684 

Arrest of Rev. Mr. Leftwich, . 657 



Second regiment engaged, . 

Mill Springs battle, . . .685 

Col. McCook's report, . . 685 

Col. Van Cleve's report, . . 686 

Letters of soldiers, . . 686, 687 

First battery engaged, . . 688 
Battle of Pittsburg Landing, . 688 

Capt. Munch's report, . 688, 689 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

. 685 Soldier's letter, 



. 690 

Gorman's brigade, . . . 690 
Gorman's brigade before York- 
town, 691 

Yorktown evacuated, . . 692 
Cornwallis field, . . .692 

Gorman's brigade at West Point, 693 

Transports shelled, . . . 693 



Lt. Cooke's letter, 



689, 690 St. Peter's Church, 



694 



CONTENTS. 



Washington's marriage, . . 695 

First regiment at Goodly Hole 
Creek, . 

Battle of Fair Oaks, . 

Described in Cincinnati paper, 

Position of first regiment, . 

Dana's brigade, . 

Seven days' battle, . . 699-701 

Mechanicsville and Gaines' Mills 699 

Peach Orchard and Savage Sta- 
tion, .... 

Malvern Hills, . 

Harrison's Landing, . 

Antietam battle, . • • 

Minnesota troops in army of the 
Mississippi, .... 701 



695 
695 
696 
696 
697 



700 
701 
701 
701 



Fifth regiment in battle, . . 701 

Staff officers fourth regiment, . 702 

Staff officers fifth regiment, . 702 

Battle of Iuka, . . . .703 

Col. Sanborn's report, . . 703 

Battle of Corinth, . . 704-709 

Munch's battery, . . . 704 

Fourth regiment at Corinth, . 706 

Captain Mowers killed, . . 706 

Fifth regiment at Corinth, . 710 

Col. Hubbard's report, . . 710 

Chaplain Ireland's letter, . . 711 

Soldier's letter, . . . .712 

Second battery at Perryville, . 714 

First regiment in Virginia, . 714 

Third regiment surrender, . 715 



CHAPTEE XXXII. 



Sioux massacre, . . . 716 

Brainerd's opinion of Indians, . 716 
Peaceful policy of English, . 716 
Early legislation, . . . 717 
First Virginia massacre, . . 718 
Murder of Thorpe, . . . 718 
Influence of Indian priests, . 719 
Cause of Virginia massacre, . 719 
London company on extermi- 
nation, . . . . . 719 
Presbyterian mission to the 

Sioux, 720 

Books published by mission- 
aries, .... 721-725 
Causes of outbreak, . . 721-725 
Young warriors at Acton, . .725 
Young warriors kill four persons, 726 
Massacre at lower agency, . 726 

Geo. H. Spencer's escape, . . 726 
Missionaries escape, . . . 727 
Fort Kidgley attacked, . . 728 
New Ulm attacked, . . .728 



New Ulm defended by Col. 

Flandreau, . . . .728 
Capt. Dodd killed, . . .728 
Gov. Eamsey appoints Col. Sib- 
ley head of opposing force, . 728 
Difficulties in the way, . . 729 
Troops arrive at Fort Kidgley, 730 
Major Brown's camp at Birch 

Coolie attacked, . . . 730 
Battle of Wood Lake, . . 731 
Lt. Col. Marshall leads a charge, 731 
Captives rescued, . . . 732 
Camp Kelease, .... 733 
Military commission for trial of 

murderers, .... 733 
Execution at Mankahto, . . 734 
Col. Sibley made Brig.-General, 734 
Second campaign under Gen. 

Sully and Sibley, . . .736 
Little Crow killed, . . .737 
Notice of Philander Prescott, . 737 



Movements of 1863, 

Fourth regiment at Kaymond, 

Champion and Vicksburg, 
Fifth at Vicksburg, 
First at Gettysburg, 



CONTENTS. 


xxix 


JHAPTER XXXIII. 




. 738 Capt. Coates' report, . 


740-745 


mond, Soldiers' graphic account, . 


740-743 


rg, . 739 Second at Chickamauga, . 


. 745 


. 739 Second at Mission Ridge, . 


. 746 


. 739 First at Bristow Station, . 


. 747 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



Movements of 1864, . 
Regiments on furlough, 
First banquetted at Washington, 
A letter-writer's impressions, 
Services of First recounted, 
First battery on furlough, . 
Third regiment in a skirmish, . 
Second battery on furlough, 
First regiment mustered out, 



748 


Battalion formed, 


751 


748 


Fifth in a skirmish, . 


752 


748 


Fifth, Seventh, Ninth and Tenth 




749 


near Tupelo, .... 


752 


749 


Col. Alexander Wilkin killed, . 


752 


751 


Fourth at Atlanta, 


753 


751 


Eighth near Murfreesboro', 


753 


751 


Fifth, Seventh, Ninth and Tenth 




751 


in battle at Nashville, . 


753 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



Movements of 1865, . 
Regiments at siege of Mobile, 
Regiments with Gen. Sherman, 



754 Lee's surrender, , . . 754 

754 Table of Minnesota troops, . 755 
754 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Governors of Minnesota, . . 756 St. Paul and Pacific railway, . 756 

Extra session of legislature in Gov. H. A. Swift, . . . 757 

1862, 756 Gov. Stephen Miller, . . .757 

Hon. H. M. Rice, retiring Sena- Shakpedan and Medicine Bottle 

tor, 756 hung at Fort Snelling, . . 757 

Gov. Ramsey elected U. S. Sena- Gov. W. R. Marshall, . . 758 

tor, 756 Gov. Horace Austin, . . 758 



XXX* 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



Governor Horace Austin, . 759 

Veto of Railroad grant, . . 760 

Impeachment of Treas. Seeger, 760 

Governor C. K. Davis, . . 760 

Railway freight rates, . . 762 

Arguments of W. P. Clough, . 762 

Women vote for school officers, 763 

Governor J. S. Pillsbury, . 764 

Validity of railroad bonds, . 765 

Rocky Mountain locust, . . 766 

Plentiful harvest, . . . 767 
State funds for sectarian schools 

prohibited 768 

Flour mills explosion at Minne- 
apolis, 769 

Impeachment of Judge Page, . 769 

Death of Rev. G. H. Pond, . 770 

Mission life at Lake Calhoun, . 770 



Supreme Court decision in His- 
torical Society case, . . 772 

Death of Rev.T. S. Williamson, 
M.D 774 

Gov. Pillsbury elected for the 
third time, .... 776 

Fire at lunatic asylum, . . 776 

First biennial session of legis- 
lature, 776 



Senator McMillan re-elected . 
Act for bond liquidation, . 
Supreme Court decision on rail- 
road bond tribunal, 
Special session of legislature . 
Governor L. F. Hubbard, . 
Judge E. St. J. Cox impeached, 
U.S.Sen'tor Windom re-elected 
State Capitol burned, 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



Railway development, . 

Edmund Rice, President Saint 
Paul and Pacific R. R., . 

First railway in operation, 

Editorial notice, 

Geo. L. Becker, President R. R. 

Railroad completed to Red river 

J. J. Hill, President St. Paul, 
Minneapolis and Manitoba 
R. R., • . . . 



782 

782 
782 
783 
783 
783 



784 



E. F. Drake, President Minne- 
sota Valley, R. R., 

W, L. Banning, President of 
Lake Superior and Miss. R. R. 

First train to Lake Superior, . 

Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint 
PaulR. R., . 

Winona and St. Peter R. R., . 

Minneapolis and St. Louis R. R. 

Northern Pacific R. R., . 



777 

777 

777 
777 
778- 
778 
77» 
778 



784 

785- 
785 

785 
786 
78& 
786 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



Representatives in Congress, . 787 
Territorial delegates, . . 787 
Members U. S. House of Rep's. 788 



United States Senators, . . 791 
Territorial Governors, . . 796 
State Governors, . . . 796 



APPENDIX A. 



Early charts of Northwest, . 797 
Map by Du Val, A. D. 1664, . 797 
Randin's map, . . . 797 
Joliet and Franquelin's . . 797 
Gravier publishes Joliet's map 
of A. D. 1674, . . .797 



Map of A. D. 1682, . . . 798 

Hennepin's map, A. D. 1683, . 798 

Franquelin's map, A. D. 1688. 798 

Notice of Franquelin, . . 799 



Fort La Tourette, 
" St. Croix, . 



799 
799 





CONTENTS. 


xxxi* 


Fort St. Antoine, 


799 


Verendrye's sketch. . 


801 


" St. Nicholas, . 


799 


De la Jemeraye's map, • • 


801 


Ochagach's map, . 


800 






APPENDIX B. 




First white men in Minnesota, 


803 


Menard visits L. Superior with 




Grosellier's early life, 


803 


Groselliers, . 


806 


His marriage, .... 


803 


" on the Mississippi before 




Names of his children, 


803 


Joliet and Marquette, . 


806 


Lake Winnipeg not seen by him 


804 


Flight of the Hurons, 


806 


Reaches Hudson's Bay, . 


804 


Tinontates or Petuns, 


806 


Sails from London with Captain 




Hurons above Lake Pepin, 


807 


Gil lam of Boston, 


805 


" at Black river, Wis., . 


807 


Mother of the Incarnation's let- 




" migrate to La Pointe, 


807 


ter, 


805 


" at war with Sioux, 


808 


Radisson, notice of, . 


803 


" retreat to Mackinaw, . 


808 


His arrest ordered, . 


804 


Sioux killed at Sauit St. Marie, 


809 


Rene Menard, missionary, 


805 


Jesuits censured, . 


809 


APPENDIX C. * 





Du Luth's birth-place, . . 809 
Post at Kamamstigoya or Three 

Rivers, A. D. 1679, . . 809 
Supposed visit of Du Luth to 

Sandy Lake, . . .810 
Trade with New England, . 810 
LaSalle's disparagement of Du 

Luth, .... 810—811 
Randin's visit to Lake Superior. 813 
Faffart, interpreter of DuLuth. 811 
DuLuth visits France, . . 813 
Letter of DuLuth to the Minister 

of Marine, . . . 813—819 
Notice of DuLuth's early life, . 813 
DuLuth' s vindication, . .813 
Military career of DuLuth, . 813 
Assineboines at the extremity of 

Lake Superior, . . . 814 
DuLuth visits the Sioux, . . 814 



DuLuth's descent of the Saint 

Croix river, . 
DuLuth meets Hennepin, 
Design to seek Western Sea, 
Traders killed, 
Execution of murderers, . 
DuLuth at Nepigon, 
" goes to Niagara, 
" returns to L. Superior 
" builds Fort St. Joseph 
" in battle near Roches 
ter, N. T., 
Notice of DuLuth's brother, 
Fort St. Joseph destroyed, 
DuLuth opposed to liquor traffic 
'* in command at Ft. Fron 

tenac, . 
" death of; 



APPENDIX D. 



Notice of Hennepin's writings, 822-8 
LaSalle's account of the Upper 
Mississippi, .... 822 



Hennepin and LaSalle compared 



815 

815 
816 
817 
818 
818 
818 
818 
820 

820 
820 
821 
821 

821 
822 



822 
823 



DuLuth's narrative and Henne- 
pin's compared, . . . 824 



xxiii* 



CONTENTS. 



Hennepin's first work, . 824, 825 

Tronson on Hennepin, . . 825 
Abbe Bernou's estimate of first 

book, 825 

Hennepin's second book, . . 825 

LaSalle censured, . . . 826 



Mistake as to Archbishop Fen- 

elon, 827 

Voyage to Gulf of Mexico, . 827 

Hennepin's exaggerations, . 828 

His last volume, . . . 830 

Answers to objections, . . 831 



APPENDIX E. 



Sketch of Perrot, . . 832—839 
Winter encampment, . . 832 
Fort St. Antoine, Lake Pepin. 832 
" St. Nicolas, . . .832 
Perrot's earlier days, . . 832 
Builds Fort St. Antoine, . . 833 
Ioways visit Perrot, . . 833 

Miamis visited, . . . 834 
Perrot's ruse, .... 835 
Soleil presented to Jesuits, . 836 
Perrot's expedition against Sen- 



Second visit to Lake Pepin, 
Captive Chippeway girls, 
Sioux visit Perrot, . 
Goods recovered by a cup of 

brandy and water, 
Foxes visit Perrot, . 
Perrot at Montreal, • 

" escorts Louvigny to Mack 
inaw, 

" visits lead mines, 
Penicaut describes lead mines 
Perrot's later days, . . 



836- 
837 

837 

838 
838 

838 
839 
830- 



APPENDIX F. 



La Hontan's early life, . . 840 

" escorts DuLuth and Tonty. 840 

Fort St. Joseph destroyed, . 840 

La Hon tan's book, . . . 840 

Bobe's letter to De l'lsle, . 840 

Long River fabrication, . . 841 

Charlevoix criticises LaHontan. 841 



Nicollet's opinion, . . . 842 
LaHontan 's alleged visit to Eo- 

koros, , 842' 

Essanapes, . . , 842 

Guacsitares, ■, 84$ 

Midwinter canoe voyage, . 843. 



APPENDIX G. 



Pierre LeSueur, • • . 845 

St. Pierre river, • . . 845 

LeSueur's marriage, . • 845 

His children, .... 845 

Sioux chief baptized, . . 845 
Order for LeSueur to sail with 

D'Iberville, .... 846 
Preparations to ascend the Mis- 

- sissippi, .... 846 

Penicaut accompanies LeSueur. 847 



Penicaut describes supposed 

copper mine, 
LeSueur leaves Blue Earth river. 
D'Evaque in charge of Fort L' 

Huillier, .... 
D'Evaque retires, 
Blue earth shipped to France, . 
Juchereau St. Denis, . 
LeSueur Lt. General for Misis- 



sippi, . 
D'Iberville's death, 



846- 
847 

847 

847 
847 
847 

845 

845- 



CONTENTS. 



xxxiii* 



APPENDIX H 



Fort Beauharnois, Lake Pepin. 849 
Father de la Chasse on Sioux 

mission, .... 849 

Father Marest's opinion, . . 849 
Father Guignas described as an 

"able mathematician," . 849 



Building of fort described 
Occupation of fort, . 
Flood of April, 1728, 
Fort, removal of, 
Bellin's statement, . 



850 

850 
8o0 
850 
850 



APPENDIX I. 



Rene Boucher, Sieur de la Per- 

riere, 851 

Sieur Montbrun, his brother, . 851 

Jemeray, his nephew, . . 851 
Lake Pepin, occasion of its name 

suggested, , 851 



Father DeGonor returns to Can- 
ada, 851 

Father Guignas captured, . 851 

Montbrun escapes from Indians. 851 

Boucherville captured, . . 852 

Goods given for release, . • 852 



APPENDIX J. 



LaNoue sent to extremity of 

Lake Superior, . . . 856 

Pachot visits the Sioux, . . 856 

Verandrie at Lake Nepigon, . 857 

Route to Pacific revived, . . 857 

Conference with DeGonor, . 857 

Ochagach, Indian guide, . . 857 

Map of Ochacagh, . . 857 

Verandrie' s early life, . . 858 

Verandrie's explorations, . 858 

De la Jemeraye's map, . . 859 

Massacre at Lake of the Woods. 859 

Father Ouneau killed, . . 859 

Verandrie's son killed, . . 859 



Death of De la Jemeray, . . 889 
Fort LaReme built, . . 859 
Rocky Mountains discovered, . 860 
Fort Bourbon, . . .860 
Verandrie, Jr., . . . 860 
Verandrie, the father, dies, . 860 
Father Coquard describes Mis- 
souri Indians, . . . 860 
Bougainville on Verandrie's 

discovery, .... 863 

Jacques Legardeur St. Pierre. 863 

Louis Luc La Corne, . . 864 

Boucher de Niverville, . . 865 

LaMarque de Marin, . . 865 



APPENDIX K. 



Sioux kill Verandrie's son, . 865 

Ossiniboia, origin of name . 866 
David Thompson, astronomer 

and geographer of N. W. Co. 866 

Early life of Thompson, . . 866 

In service of Hudson Bay Co. . 866 

Joins North-West Company, . 866 

Observations at Grand Portage. 866 

Convocation of traders, . . 867 



Thompson ascends Saskatche- 
wan 867 

Visits the Mandans, . 807 

Ascends the Assineboine. 867 

Explores Red River, . . 868 

Observations at Pembina. 863 
Reaches northern source of 

the Mississippi, . . 869 

Visits Sandy Lake, . . 869 



xxxiv* 



CONTENTS. 



Descends St. Louis river, . 869 

Arrives at Sault St. Marie. 869 

Franchere alludes to Thompson. 870 

Irving's description, . . 870 

Thompson's later years. . . 870 

N. W. Company formed, . 870 

X. Y. Company organized, . 870 
Count Andriani criticises N. W. 

Company, . . . .871 

Alexander Henry of N. W. Co. 871 

His manuscripts, . . . 872 

Grasshoppers, A. D. 1800, . 882 

Hudson Bay Co. boats, . . 872 

Names of Henry's voyageurs. 873 

Bonga, of African descent, , 874 

A wile offered for liquor, . 874 

A faithless wife tortured, • 874 

Great buffalo crossing, . . 870 

Old fort at Pembina, . . 870 

Trading post at Park River, . 877 

Cheyenne Indians, . . . 877 

Nose lost in a fight, . . . 877 

Horses sent to Red Lake. . 877 



A child torn asunder, . . 
An effeminate warrior, . . 
A race for life, . 
Buffalo abundant, . • 
Red River cart invented, . . . 
Fort William commenced, 
First Red River train, 
Death of trader's wife, , • 
Products of trader's garden, . 
A mare for a wife, . 
Death of trader Cameron, 
Hesse, trader, .... 
Drunken fight, 
Joseph Rainville, 
St. Germain accidentally shot. 
Fight in 1805 between Sioux 

and Chippeways, . 
Horrible details, 
News of Lt. Z. M. Pike, • 
William Henry's arrival, . 
Visit to Mandans, . 
Explorations of Columbia river. 



877 
878 
879 
880 
881 
882 
882 
884 
8*4 
884 
885 
885 
886 



887 



890 



APPENDIX L. 



Early days of Fort Snelling, . 890 
A birth in camp, . . . 890 
Major Forsyth at Mendota with 

presents for Sioux, . . . 891 
Col. Leavenworth's arrival, . 891 
Officers visit St. Anthony Falls. 891 
First schoolmaster, . . .811 
Old chief stabbed, . . .892 
Col. Snelling, arrival of . . 892 
Marriage at cantonment, . 892 
Complimentary letter to Agent 

Taliaferro, . . . .892 
Sissetons kill traders, . . 893 
First occupation of fort, . . 839 
Alexis Bailly drives cattle to 

Selkirk settlement, . . 893 
First sawmill, .... 894 
Beltrami visits fort, . . . 894 
First steamboat arrival, . . 894 
First flour mill, . . .895 



First Sunday School, 

Lieut. Alexander's land trip to 
Prairie du Chien, . 

Name of fort changed, 

Gen. Scott's report, . 

Agent Taliaferro, in 1824 takes 
a Sioux delegation to Wash 
ington, 

Rev. Samuel Peters and the 
Carver claim, 

Surgeon Purcell's death, . 

Indian treaty of 1825 at Prairie 
du Chien, 

Lieut. Col. W. Morgan compli- 
mented, 

Events of 1826, 

Indian woman crazed, . 

Steamboat arrivals, . 

Indians attack supply boats, 

General Gaines inspects fort, 



895 



896 
896 



897 



900 
900 
901 
901 
902 





CONTENTS. xxxv* 


Deaths and desertions, 


903 


Presbyterian missionaries, 


907 


Fifth regiment relieved, . 


903 


A bridal tour in canoe, 


908 


Col. Saelling's death, 


903 


Drunken and licentious Indians 


909 


A drover lost, .... 


903 


Letters of Gale and Taliaferro,909,910 


Old Spanish commission, 


903 


Events of 1831, 


911 


Jacob Falstrom, 


904 


Events of 1832, 


912 


Proposed Huron Territory, 


904 


Marriages, .... 


912 


Events of 1829, 


904 


Dred Scott case, 


913 


Polish count arrives, 


905 


Visit of Alex. Hamilton's widow 


914 


Wahcoota made chief of Red 




Impudent whisky sellers, 


916 


Wing Sioux, 


905 


First church bell in Minnesota. 


917 


Dog feast. • , 


905 


Sutlers at Fort Snelling, . 918—920 


Little Crow's speech, 


906 






APPENDIX M. 




Letter of Agent Taliaferro, 


920 


Andrews, a Canadian, killed, . 


920 


Poupon, a hatf-breed, killed, . 


920 


Council at Fort Snelling, 


920 


APPENDIX N. 




Win. Joseph Snelling, 


921 


"Truth," a poem by Joseph 




Duel with Lt. Hunter, 


921 


Snelling, . 


922 


Lt. W. Alexander fights a duel. 


921 


Willis' lampoon, 


922 


General Games' inspection, 


921 


Snelling's reply. 


922 


Col. Snel ling's views censured. 


921 


Other books by Snelling, . 


923 


• ' Tales of the North-west, " . 


922 






APPENDIX 0. 




Treaties of 1837, 


923 


Pitts cuts lumber in St. Croix 




Fur company charge tribe with 




valley 


925 


debts of individuals. 


923 


Steele, Russell and others make 




Exorbitant claim, 


924 


claims. 


925 


Chipp'way treaty at Ft.Snelling 


924 


Steamer Palmyra brings news 




Sioux treaty at Washington, . 


924 


of ratification of treaty, 


925 


Sudden departure of delegation 


924 


Steamer Gypsy first steamboat 




Sioux return from Washington 


925 


at Falls of St. Croix, . 


926 






Founders of Marine Mills, 


926 


APPENDIX P. 




Oapt. Marryatt, R. N., at Men- 




Notice of Rainville family, 


927 


dota. ..... 


927 


Anecdotes of Jack Fraser, 


928 


Guest of H. H. Sibley, . 


927 







r 



xxxvi* CONTENTS. 

APPENDIX Q. 
Census of Minnesota for 1880. 

APPENDIX R. 
Brief record of the officers of Minnesota regiments. 
MAPS AND PORTRAITS. 



Franquelin's map, A. D. 1688, 




Faces' titie. 








Part of De l'lsle's Canada, 


. " page . . . . xlvi- 


Louisiana, , 




" " 




. 164 


Discoveries west of Lake Superior, 




" " 






. 188 


Northern Louisiana, 




" " 






. 300 


Portrait of Governor Sibley, . 




" 






. 488 


Franklin Steele, 




" " 






. 490 


U. S. Senator Rice, 




" . " 






. 492- 


" U. S. Senator Ramsey, 




. " " 






, 494 


Mrs. Ramsey, 




" " 






. 496. 


" Mrs. Sibley, . 




. " " 






. 498 


Mrs. Rice, 




" " 






. 500 


" Mrs. Steele, . 




" " 






. 502 


Table of railway organizations, 




. " " 






. 780 


Ochagach's map, 




„ 






. 80O 



I 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The physical characteristics of a land should be 
known, to correctly understand the history of its people. 
In an important sense, when the skies do change, men 
also change. Grand scenery, leaping waters, and a 
bracing atmosphere, produce men of different cast from 
those who dwell where the land is on a dead level, and 
where the streams are all sluggards. We associate 
heroes like Tell and Bruce with the mountains of Swit- 
zerland and the Highlands of Scotland, and not with 
regions of country where the outline is unbroken, and 
the horizon appears as a continuation of the earth. 

Minnesota occupies the elevated plateau of North 
America; and from its gently sloping plains descend 
the rivulets that feed the mighty Mississippi, that flows 
into the Gulf of Mexico; the noble St. Lawrence, 
emptying its volume into the Atlantic; and the wind- 
ing Red River of the North, flowing into Hudson's Bay. 
It extends from 43° 30' to 49° north latitude, and its 
boundaries are : on the north, the British Possessions ; 

(31) 



xxxii HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

on the south, the state of Iowa ; on the east, Lake Su- 
perior and the state of Wisconsin ; and on the west Red 
river, Sioux Wood river, Lake Traverse, and Big Stone 
Lake, and from the latter a due south line to the north- 
ern boundary of Iowa. 

The climate of Minnesota has elicited an eulogy from 
every observing traveller, and yet erroneous impressions 
prevail in the public mind. During the summer, the 
temperature corresponds with that of Philadelphia; 
and while the thermometer has a high range during the 
day, the evenings are generally cool and refreshing. 
Nights, so frequent on the Atlantic border, when the 
body welters in perspiration, and the individual arises 
exhausted rather than refreshed by sleep, are unknown. 
Nor is the winter any more trying to the constitution 
than the summer. The air is dry and bracing, and the 
skies are by day generally cloudless, and at night are 
studded with stars. Maury, the author of the Physi- 
cal Geography of the Sea, and Superintendent of the 
National Observatory at Washington, has remarked: — 

"At the small hours of the night, at dewy eve and 
early morn, I have looked out with wonder, love, and 
admiration upon the steel-blue sky of Minnesota, set 
with diamonds, and sparkling with brilliants of purest 
ray. The stillness of your small hours is sublime. I 
feel constrained, as I gaze and admire, to hold my breath, 
lest the eloquent silence of the night should be broken 
by the reverberations of the sound, from the seemingly 
solid but airy vault above. 

" Herschell has said, that in Europe, the astronomer 
might consider himself highly favoured, if by patiently 
watching the skies for one year, he shall, during that 



MAURY'S ESTIMATE OF MINNESOTA. xxxiii 

period find, all told, one hundred hours suitable for sat- 
isfactory observations. A telescope mounted here, in 
this atmosphere, under the skies of Minnesota, would 
have its powers increased many times over what they 
would be under canopies of a heaven less brilliant and 
lovely." 

Corroborative of these statements are tables which 
appear in the report of the Minnesota and Pacific Rail- 
road Company which we have extracted. 

No region which at present engages the public mind, 
as a field for settlement, has been so grossly misrepre- 
sented, in regard to peculiarities of climate, as Minne- 
sota. Fabulous accounts of its arctic temperature, 
piercing winds, and accompanying snows of enormous 
depth, embellish the columns of the Eastern press. An 
examination of this subject, and especially in relation 
to the snows and wdnds of winter, as opposed to the 
operation of lines of railroad, seems necessary to correct 
existing prejudices ; and fortunately the means are at 
hand for conducting this examination with an exactness 
nearly reaching mathematical precision. The data 
employed are compiled from the " Army Meteorological 
Register," and " Blodgett's Climatology of the United 
States," both standard authorities, based upon the sys- 
tem of meteorological observations which have been 
conducted by the surgeons of the United States army, 
and other scientific gentlemen, through a series of 
upwards of thirty years. 

In the following table, illustrative of the temperature 
of Minnesota, St. Paul is inserted in the place of Fort 
Snelling (six miles distant), where the observations 
were made : — 



XXXIV 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



SPRING. 



Mean Temperature, 45° 



St. Paul, 

Boston, Massachusetts, . 
Springfield, Massachusetts, 
Worcester, Massachusetts, 
Kinderhook, New York, 
TJtica, New York, . . 
Cooperstown, New York, 
Onondaga, New York, 
Lewiston, New York, . 
Detroit, Michigan, 
Ann Arbor, Michigan, 
Battle Creek, Michigan, 
Chicago, Illinois, . . 
Beloit, Wisconsin, . . 
Portage City, Wisconsin, 



No. of 
Years.* 



35£ 
20 

2 

7 
17 

9 
16 
16 
18 
13 

3 

5£ 

5 

6 
16 



SUMMER. 



Mean Temperature, 70° 



St. Paul, ......... 

Lowell, Massachusetts, . . ' . 
Trenton, New Jersey, . . . 
Middletown, New Jersey, . . 
Flatbush, Long Island, New York 
Newburg, New York, .... 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, . 
Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, . . 
Warren, Pennsylvania, 
Hudson, Ohio, . . . 
Oberlin, Ohio, . . . 
Chicago, Illinois, . . 
Beloit, Wisconsin, . . 
Portage City, Wisconsin, 
Pembina, M. T. lat. 49° 



No. of 
Years. 



35* 

7 

5 

3 
24 
18 
10 

3 

14 

7 
5 
5 
6 
16 
7-12th 



AUTUMN. 
Mean Temperature, 45° 54'. 



St. Paul, 

Portland, Maine, .... 
Burlington, Vermont, . . . 
Montreal, Canada, . . . 
Lake Simcoe, Canada West, 
Lowville, Lewis County, Now York 
Plattsburg, New York, . . . 
Fairfield Academy, New York, 
Mexico, Oswego County, New York 
Cherry Valley, New York, 
Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, 
Smethport, Pennsylvania, 
Green Bay, Wisconsin, . 
Manitowoc, Wisconsin, . 
Baraboo, Wisconsin, . . 



No. of 
Years. 



35£ 
31 

6 
15 

1 
19 
11 
19 
11 
15 

H 

3 
21 
21 

1 



WINTER. 



Mean Temperature. 16° 6'. 



St. Paul, 

Houlton, Maine, , . . . 
Hanover, New Hampshire, . 
Williamstown, Massachusetts, 
Montreal, Canada, .... 
Sault St. Marie, .... 



No. of 
Years. 



35* 
17 
3 
13 
15 
31 



Taking a map of the United States, and applying to 
it lines of mean temperature for the seasons and year, 
passing through the places indicated in the foregoing 
table, we find that while the winter temperature of St. 

1 The column headed " No. of years" gives the duration of the observa- 
tions at each station. 



TEMPERATURE COMPARED WITH EASTERN STATES. xxxv 

Paul does not fall below the average of places on its 
parallel of latitude, its spring temperature coincides 
with that of Central Wisconsin, Northern Illinois, 
Southern Michigan, Central New York, and Massachu 
setts; its summer with that of Central Wisconsin, 
Northern Illinois, Northern Ohio, Central and Southern 
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey ; its autumn with that 
of Central Wisconsin, Northern New York, a small part 
of Northern Pennsylvania, Northern Vermont, and 
Southern Maine ; and its entire year with that of Cen- 
tral Wisconsin, Central New York, Southern New 
Hampshire, and Southern Maine. 

Viewing this subject with reference to the extremes 
of latitude touched by these isothermal lines, we disco- 
ver that St. Paul has a temperature in spring equal to 
Chicago, which is two and a half degrees of latitude 
south ; in autumn, equal to Northern New York, one 
and a half degrees south ; and during the whole year, 
equal to Central New York, two degrees south. 

These statements do not admit of the slightest doubt 
or question, no matter how widely they may differ from 
preconceived opinions, for they are founded on facts of 
experience which have occupied an entire generation in 
their development. 

This condition of temperature not only obtains in 
Minnesota, but it is a well established fact, that there 
extends hundreds of miles to the north-west of her an 
immense area of fertile and arable soil, possessed of a 
climate hardly inferior in warmth to her own. The 
closing chapter of Blodgett's Climatology is an admira- 
ble treatise on the climate and resources of this vast 
region. 

The obstruction opposed by snows to the rapid and 



xxxvi HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

regular passage of trains, is among the chief difficulties 
of winter operation, and in order to submit in the plain- 
est and most concise manner possible the magnitude of 
this obstacle, as found here in comparison with other 
districts, a table of mean results, compiled from the 
same sources with the preceding table, is here intro- 
duced. 

The results given in the table are all reduced to 
water, but in order to convert them into equivalents 
of snow, we have only to consider the figures in the 
columns as representing feet and decimals of a foot. 
The rule adopted in the " Register," gives ten inches 
of snow as equivalent to one inch of water, but the pro- 
portion of twelve to one is believed to be more correct, 
particularly as regards snows of our latitude. 



Mean Fall of Rain and Melted Snow at various places for the different sea- 
sons and the entire year. Also, the Maximum and Minimum, Fall during 
the winter months. 





DEPTH IN INCHES AND DECIMALS OP AN INCH. 








SPRING. 


8UMMER. 


AUTUMN. 




WINTER. 




TEAR. 


No. 


PLACES. 
















of 
Years. 


Mean. 


Mean. 


Mean. 


Minim. 


Mean. 


Maxim. 


Mean. 


St. Paul, M. T. . . . 


6.61 


10.92 


5.98 


0.35 


1.92 


3.561 


25.43 


19 


Montreal, Canada . . 


11.54 


11.18 


16.60 




7.26 




47.28 


2 


Houlton, Me. . . . 


7.62 


11.92 


9.95 


4.02 


7.48 


10.00 


36.97 


9* 


Eastport, Me. . . . 


8.88 


10.05 


9.85 


8.91 


10.61 


11.95 


39.39 


H 


Portsmouth, N. H. . . 


9.03 


9.21 


8.95 


4.44 


8.38 


11.08 


35.57 


13 


Hanover, N. H. . . . 


9.90 


11.40 


10.50 




9.10 




41.00 


18 


Burlington, Vt. . . . 


7.41 


10.83 


9.82 




6.02 




34.11 


20 


Cambridge, Mass. . . 


10.85 


11.17 


12.57 




9.89 




44.48 


12 


Worcester, Mass. . . 


10.89 


10.71 


13.51 




11.85 




46.96 


13 


New York City . . . 


11.69 


11.64 


9.93 


4.99 


10.39 


19.27 


43.65 


14 


Plattsburg, N. Y. . . 


8.36 


10.03 


10.05 


2.90 


4.95 


9.33 


33.39 


10 


Potsdam, N. Y. . . . 


6.20 


10.15 


8.38 




3.90 




28.63 


20 


Utica, N. Y 


9.26 


12.83 


9.76 




8.72 




40.57 


19 


Rochester, N. Y. . . 


6.82 


8.86 


9.38 




5.38 




30.44 


19 


Fort Niagara, N. Y. . 


6.87 


9.81 


8.68 


3.23 


6.41 


9.24 


31.77 


5^ 


Pittsburgh, Pa. . . . 


9.38 


9.87 


8.23 


4.39 


7.48 


11.97 


34.96 


18 


Hudson, 


9.76 


8.87 


6.16 




8.00 




32.79 


7 


Cincinnati, 0. . . . 


12.14 


13.70 


9.90 




11.15 




46.89 


20 


Detroit, Mich. . . . 


8.51 


9.29 


7.41 


2.84 


4.86 


6.01 


30.07 


12i 


Sault St. Marie, Mich. 


5.44 


9.97 


10.76 


2.85 


5.18 


11.57 


31.35 


16| 


Athens, 111 


12.20 


13.30 


9.20 




7.10 




41.80 


10 


Muscatine, Iowa . . 


11.19 


15.08 


10.34 




6.72 




44.33 


10 


Milwaukee, Wis. . . 


6.60 


9.70 


6.80 




4.20 




27.20 


7 


Green Bay, Wis. . . 


9.00 


14.45 


7.84 


2.90 


3.36 


4.80 


34.65 


74 


Portage City, Wis. . . 


5.58 


11.46 


7.63 


1.92 


2.82 


3.84 


27.49 


9 


Beloit, Wis 


13.16 


18.12 


10.44 




6.43 




48.15 


4 



1 In the winter of 1849. The next less fall was in the winter of 1837—2.96 inches. 



LESS SNOW THAN ON THE ATLANTIC BORDER. xxxvii 

Without going into a detailed review of the contents 
of the foregoing table, which presents the facts in a 
light that argument cannot strengthen, it may be well 
to inquire what proportion of the winter precipitation 
is in the form of snow, and in the absence of positive 
knowledge we may arrive at general conclusions by 
other means. 

Since Houlton, Hanover, Plattsburg, Montreal, and 
Sault St. Marie, coincide in mean winter temperature 
with St. Paul, we must infer that the precipitation at 
those places assumes the form of snow in the same pro- 
portion as here. Admitting this, and supposing the 
entire winter precipitation to be a successive accumula- 
tion of snows, the resulting depths would be as follows, 
viz., Average annual depth at St. Paul, 3 feet; Houl- 
ton, 7£ feet; Hanover, 9 feet; Plattsburg, 5 feet; Mon- 
treal, 7 feet; Sault St. Marie, 11 £ feet. Maximum 
depth, at St. Paul, 3£ feet; Houlton, 10 feet; Platts- 
burg, 9i feet ; and Sault St. Marie, Hi feet. It is hardly 
necessary to add that such immense depths of snow are 
never known, and it must follow that a great part of 
the fall at all these localities is dissipated during the 
higher fluctuations of temperature. This is confirmed 
by Mr. Blodgett, who estimates the average depth of 
snow constantly occupying the ground in winter among 
the elevated and northern districts of New England at 
two feet, and the experience of the present winter, 
1857-8, at St. Paul, is, that, out of a total fall of up- 
wards of twenty inches of snow, the depth on the ground 
has at no time exceeded six inches. 

Although no reliable evidence can be adduced upon 
this point, it seems entirely safe to assume that the 



XXXV111 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



average of extreme depths of snow in Minnesota, during 
the nineteen years through which the observations ex- 
tend, does not exceed ten inches, and it is certain that 
the average here falls quite below that in Wisconsin, 
Illinois, Michigan, or New York, and very far below 
that in the Eastern States. 



Table showing the Mean Force of the Wind at Various Places during the 
Months of January, February, March, and December, in each Tear for a 
Series of Years. 1 





1845 1846 


1847 


1848 1849 


1850 


1851 


1852 


1853 1854 


O 


8 a 


PLACES. 






















© * 






a © 


C © 
l§ 


a ® 




If 




a © 


c © 

jl 


I! 


|1 


c >• 


eS o 


Fort Snelling, M. T., 
























near St. Paul, . . 


1.59 


1.72 


1.63 


1.74 


1.55 


2.05 


2.18 


2.00 


1.S0 


2.41 


10 


1.87 


Fort Trumbull, New 


























London, Conn., . . 


2.53 


2.85 






3.41 


2.98 


2.31 


2.45 


2.16 




7 


2.67 


Fort Hamilton, New 


























York City, . . . 


3.28 


3.43 


3.18 


3.08 


3.40 


3.14 


3.40 


3.14 


1.90 


1.66 


10 


2.96 


Fort Niagara, New 


























York, 


3.33 


3.28 


. . . . 


. . . . 


3.30 


3.24 


2.59 


3.54 


2.20 


2.57 


8 


3.01 


Plattsburg Barracks, 


























Plattsburg, N. Y. . 


2.58 


1.69 








1.48 


1.54 


2.19 




. . . . 


5 


1.90 


Fort Sullivan, East- 


























port, Maine, . . . 


3.29 


. . . . 




.... 




2.31 


2.37 


2.55 


2.63 


. . . . 


5 


2.63 


Fort Constitution, 


























Portsmouth, N. H. . 


2.44 








. . . . 


2.18 


2.53 


2.70 


2.65 




5 


2.50 


Alleghany Arsenal, 


























Pittsburgh, Pa. . . 


2.13 


1.85 


2.08 


1.86 


2.08 


2.29 


2.15 


2.74 


2.31 


2.55 


10 


2.20 


Detroit Barracks, De- 




























? *>? 


2.46 






1.72 


2.11 


2.32 








5 


2 26 


Fort Atkinson, Winne- 












shiek County, Iowa, 


2.88 


2.07 


















2 


2.48 


Fort Leavenworth, 


























Kansas, . . . . 


2.30 


2.19 


1.70 


1.99 


2.55 


1.45 


1.61 


2.03 


2.07 


2.30 


.0 


2.09 


Average force at all 


























places, . . . . 


2.63 


2.40 


2.15 


2.17 


2.57 


2.32 


2.30 


2.59 


2.22 


2.30 




2.42 



1 In this classification signifies a 4 a brisk breeze, and so on to 10, 
calm, 1 a barely perceptible breeze, 2 which represents a violent hurricane. 
a gentle breeze, 3 a moderate breeze, 



NUMEROUS LAKES.— WATERFALLS. xxxix 

" It appears that the mean force of the wind at Fort 
Snelling for the whole term is less than at any other 
station, and twenty-five per cent, less than the average 
of all stations for the whole term, and that the mean 
force in any year is below the average at all stations 
for the year, except in 1854, when it slightly exceeds 
the average." 

Like the Garden of Eden, the state is encircled by 
rivers and lakes. There is " water, water everywhere ;" 
and in view of this characteristic, Nicollet called the 
country Undine. To naiads and all water spirits it 
would be a perfect paradise. The surface of the country 
is dotted with lakes, and in some regions it is impossible 
to travel five miles without meeting a beautiful expanse 
of water. Many of these lakes are linked together by 
small and clear rivulets, while others are isolated. 
Their configuration is varied and picturesque ; some 
are large, with precipitous shores, and contain wooded 
islands, others are approached by gentle grassy slopes. 
Their bottoms are paved with agates, carnelians, and 
other beautiful quartz pebbles. Owens, in his Geological 
Report, says : " Their beds are generally pebbly, or 
covered with small boulders, which peep out along the 
shore, and frequently show a rocky line around the 
entire circumference. Very few of them have mud bot- 
toms. The water is generally sweet and clear, and 
north of the water-shed is as cool and refreshing during 
the heats of summer as the water of springs or wells. 
All the lakes abound with various species of fish, of a 
quality and flavour greatly superior to those of the 
streams of the Middle or Western States. 

The country also contains a number of ha-ha, as the 
Dahkotahs call all waterfalls. As the state of New 



xl HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

York shares with Great Britain the sublimest cataract, 
so Minnesota has a joint ownership in a picturesque 
fall. It is about a mile and a half above the mouth of 
Pigeon river. The perpendicular descent is sixty feet, 
after which the river chafes its way for many yards. 
About one mile below the west end of Grand Portage, 
the old depot of the North-west Company, are the great 
cascades of Pigeon river. "The scenery at the cas- 
cades presents the singular combination of wild grandeur 
and picturesque beauty, with an aspect the most dreary 
and desolate imaginable. In the distance of four 
hundred yards, the river falls one hundred and forty- 
four feet. The fall is in a series of cascades through a 
narrow gorge, with perpendicular walls, varying from 
forty to one hundred and twenty feet, on both sides of 
the river." 1 The streams in the north-east county of 
Minnesota nearly all come into Lake Superior with a 
leap. Half a mile from the lake, the Kawimbash hur- 
ries through perpendicular walls of stone, seventy-five 
feet in height, and at last pitches down a height of 
eighteen or twenty feet. 

On Kettle river, a tributary of the St. Croix, there 
are also interesting rapids and falls. The Falls of St. 
Croix, thirty miles above Stillwater, elicit the admira- 
tion of the traveller. Between lofty walls of trap rock, 
the river rushes, "at first with great velocity, forming 
a succession of whirlpools, until it makes a sudden bend, 
then glides along placidly, reflecting in its deep waters 
the dark image of the columnar masses, as they rise 
towering above each other to the height of a hundred 
to a hundred and seventy feet." On the Vermillion 

1 Owens' Report, p. 409, 4to. 



THE FALLS OF MINNE-HA-HA. xli 

river, which is a western tributary of the Mississippi, 
opposite the St. Croix, there are picturesque falls, about 
a mile from Hastings. 

A drive of less than fifteen minutes from Fort Snel- 
ling, in the direction of St. Anthony, brings the tourist 
to a waterfall that makes a lifetime impression. 

" Stars in the silent night 

Might be enchained, 
Birds in their passing flight 

Be long detained, 
And by this scene entrancing, 

Angels might roam, 
Or make their home, 

Hearing, in waters dancing, 
'Mid spray and foam, 

Minnehaha I" 

These, within a brief period, have obtained a world- 
wide reputation, from the fact that " a certain one of 
our own poets" has given the name of Minne-ha-ha to 
the wife of Hiawatha. Longfellow, in his vocabulary, 
says : " Minne-ha-ha — Laughing-water ; a waterfall or a 
stream running into the Mississippi, between Fort Snell- 
ing and the Falls of St. Anthony." All waterfalls, in 
the Dahkotah tongue, are called Ha-ha, never Minne- 
ha-ha. The "h" has a strong guttural sound, and the 
word is applied because of the curling or laughing of 
the waters. The verb I-ha means to curl the mouth ; 
secondarily to laugh, because of the curling motion of 
the mouth in laughter. The noise of Ha-ha is called 
by the Dakhotahs I-ha, because of its resemblance to 
laughter. 

A small rivulet, the outlet of Lake Harriet and Cal- 
houn, gently gliding over the bluff into an amphithea- 



xlii HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

tre, forms this graceful waterfall. It has but little of 
" the cataract's thunder." Niagara symbolizes the sub- 
lime ; St. Anthony the picturesque ; Ha-ha the beauti- 
ful. The fall is about sixty feet, presenting a parabolic 
curve, which drops, without the least deviation, until 
it has reached its lower level, when the stream goes on 
its way rejoicing, curling along in laughing, childish 
glee at the graceful feat it has performed in bounding 
over the precipice. 

Five miles above this embodiment of beauty, are the 
rnore pretentious Falls of St. Anthony. This fall was 
not named by a Jesuit, as Willard says, in her History 
Df the United States, but by Hennepin, a Franciscan of 
the Recollect Order. He saw it while returning from 
Mille Lac, in the month of July, 1680, and named it 
after his patron Saint, Anthony of Padua. 

In the last edition of his travels, the adventurous 
father says, "the navigation is interrupted by a fall, 
which I called St. Anthony of Padua's, in gratitude for 
the favours done me by the Almighty through the inter- 
cession of that great saint, whom we had chosen patron 
and protector of all our enterprises. This fall is forty 
or fifty feet high, divided in the middle by a rocky 
island of pyramidal form." As Hennepin was passing 
the falls, in company with a party of buffalo hunt- 
ers, he perceived a Dahkotah up in an oak opposite 
the great fall weeping bitterly, with a well dressed 
beaver robe, whitened inside, and trimmed with porcu- 
pine quills, which he was offering as a sacrifice to the 
falls, which is in itself admirable and frightful. I heard 
him while shedding copious tears say, as he spoke to 
the great cataract : " Thou who art a spirit, grant that 



FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY. xhn 

our nation may pass here quietly without accident, may 
kill buffalo in abundance, conquer our enemies, and 
bring in slaves, some of whom we will put to death 
before thee ; the Messenecqz [to this day the Dahkotahs 
call the Fox Indians by this name] have killed our 
kindred, grant that we may avenge them." 

The only other European, during the time of the 
French dominion, whose account of the falls is pre- 
served, is Charleville. He told Du Pratz, the author 
of a history of Louisiana, that, with two Canadians and 
two Indians, in a birch canoe laden with goods, he pro- 
ceeded as far as the Falls of St. Anthony. This cata- 
ract he describes as caused by a flat rock, which forms 
the bed of the river, and causing a fall of eight or ten 
feet. It w^as not far from a century after Hennepin 
saw the " curling waters," that it was gazed upon by a 
British subject. Jonathan Carver, a native of Connec- 
ticut, and captain of a Provincial troop, was the Yankee 
who first looked on this valuable water-power, and began 
to make calculations for further settlement. His sketch 
of the falls in 1766 was the first ever taken, and was 
well engraved in London. 

Carver, like Hennepin, speaks of a rocky island 
dividing the falls, and estimates its width about forty 
feet, and its length not much more, " and about half 
way between this island and the eastern shore, is a 
rock, lying at the very edge of the fall, that appeared 
to be about five or six feet broad, and thirty or forty 
long." 

During the two generations that have elapsed, since 
this description was penned, some changes have taken 
place in the appearance of the falls. The small island 



xliv HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

about forty feet broad, which is now some distance in 
front of the falls, was probably once in its midst. The 
geological character of the bed of the river is such, that 
an undermining process is constantly at work. The 
upper stratum is limestone, with many large crevices, 
and about fifteen feet in thickness. Beneath is the 
saccharoid sandstone, which is so soft, that it cannot 
resist the wearing of the rapid waters. It is more than 
probable that in an age long passed, the falls were once 
in the vicinity of Fort Snelling. In the course of two 
years they have receded many feet. The numbers of pine 
logs that pitch over the falls, have increased the reces- 
sion. As the logs float down they are driven into the 
fissures, and serve as levers, other logs and the water 
communicating the power, to wrench the limestone slabs 
from their localities. At length engineering skill has 
prevented the fall of the limestone ledge 

The fall of water on the west side of the dividing 
island, is several rods above that on the east side, and 
the difference is occasioned by the greater volume of 
water on the former side, causing a more rapid re- 
cedence. 

There are two islands of great beauty in the rapids 
above the falls. The first juts some feet beyond the 
falls, and contains about fifteen acres. It is now gene- 
rally known as Hennepin Island, not, as some blunderer 
says in Harpers Magazine for July, 1853, because the 
Jesuit father tvas placed there by the Indians, but in 
accordance with the following suggestion, in an address 
before the Historical Society of Minnesota, on January 
first, 1850 :— 

" As a town in the state of Illinois has already taken 



EARLY FRENCH MAPS. xiv 

the name of Hennepin, which would have been so ap- 
propriate for the beautiful village of St. Anthony, we 
take leave of the discoverer of those picturesque falls, 
which will always render that town equally attractive 
to the eye of the poet and capitalist, by suggesting that 
the island which divides the laughing waters, be called 
Hemiepin." 

When Du Luth left Minnesota, in 1680, one of the 
Dahkotah chiefs drew on birch bark a map of the 
Mississippi, and it was agreed that the French should 
bring goods to the Mississippi, and that the Dahkotahs 
would come down and traffic with them. Perrot, in 
carrying into effect this arrangement, appears to have 
erected the trading establishment, called Fort St. 
Nicholas, in the vicinity of Prairie du Chien. 

When forts are spoken of in connection with the 
French explorations of the North-west, the reader must 
divest himself of the idea of massive walls of masonry, 
and turrets and buttresses, and angles with ordnance 
protruding their muzzles; — and picture before him a log 
cabin, surrounded by a few pickets. 

The early French maps on America, are both curious 
and instructive* Without their aid it is impossible to 
trace with certainty the progress of discovery in Minne- 
sota, and the whole North-west. 

An early chart representing Minnesota that has 
been examined is that of Coronellis, corrected by 
Tillemon, published at Paris, 1688. 

Mille Lac is called Lac Buade, and the map states 

that it was named bv Du Luth. 

«/ 

The St. Croix river appears as Magdeline, and Snake 
river is marked Prophet. 

The second map that attempts a representation of 

* Appendix A 



xlvi HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the region now known as Minnesota, is attached to the 
Utrecht edition of Hennepin's Travels, published in 1 698. 
Lake Pepin is on this marked Lac des Pleurs, and the 
St. Croix as Riviere du Tombeau, and Mille Lac is the 
Lake of the Issati. North-east of this lake are placed 
the Ouadebaton band of Dahkotahs ; and near by the 
Chongas-kabions, and Songasquitons. 

A member of the Franciscan priesthood, Hennepin, 
was very jealous of the influence of the Jesuits, yet he 
is frequently by loose writers called a Jesuit. To 
convey the impression that his order were the pioneers 
in the evangelization of the North-west, he has marked 
beyond Sauk Rapids, in a region where a white man's 
footsteps were not seen for years subsequent, a house 
which is called Mission of the Recollects. 

The maps on the North-west that were the basis of 
the French and English charts, for half a century, were 
prepared by William de l'lsle, a member of the Royal 
Academy of Sciences at Paris. In his preparation of 
the chart of Louisiana, he was assisted by the obser- 
vations of the early explorer of Minnesota, Le Sueur. 
The map was issued about the year 1700, and as the 
section of it accompanying another chapter of this work 
shows, 1 attempted to designate the villages of the Sioux 
of the East and Sioux of the West. It places a coal 
mine on the Minnesota river, in the neighbourhood of 
the present town of Carver, and calls Lake St. Croix, 
Lake Pepin. The fort built by Le Sueur on the island 
below Hastings, and by Perrot at an earlier period, 
above the Chippeway river, and Fort Huillier on the 
small tributary of the Mahkahto, are clearly designated. 

1 See page 164. 




Section of a Map of Canada 



SECURITY AND PROSPERITY OF PIONEERS. xlvii 

In the map of Canada, by the same author, Minnesota 
is more fully delineated. Pepin is attached to the lake 
which now bears the name. Mille Lac is called Buade, 
after the family name of Frontenac. and also by an 
Ojibway word Missisacaigan, conveying the idea ex- 
pressed by the French term Mille Lacs. 

Bum river is called the Mendeouacanton, after the 
division of Dahkotahs that dwelt in the valley. Snake 
river bears its present name, and the mines of lead 
near Galena and Dubuque are noted. In the year 
1750, after Veranderie's tour by the chain of lakes that 
form the northern boundary of Minnesota, Philip Buache 1 
revised and improved the maps of De l'lsle. The fort 
at the Kamanatekwoya river, built by Du Luth, appears, 
and this locality was afterwards occupied by Fort Wil- 
liam , and was the great depot of the North-west Com- 
pany. The post on Rainy Lake, and Lake Winnipeg and 
Lake of the Woods, are also presented for the first time. 
Previous to the treaty of peace at Paris, in 1763, Tho- 
mas JefFerys, Geographer to the King of England, pre- 
pared a map which embodied all of the latest correc- 
tions, and exhibits the sites of all the French establish- 
ments in Minnesota. 2 

So recent has been the removal of the Dahkotahs, 
there is danger, in reading the history of Minnesota, 
of supposing that the emigrant will be exposed to the 
scalping knife of the savage. It is true that there was 
a massacre by some outlaws on the extreme south- 
western frontier, years ago ; but this barbarity was 
condemned by the Indian Dands, as much as by Ame- 
rican citizens. Although the war-whoop has scarcely 

1 See page 188. ■ See page 300. 



xlviii HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

ceased to resound through the vales, and over the prai- 
ries, yet, since 1863, the Indian population has receded 
westward several hundreds of miles, and an Indian, 
when he appears on the site of what was only yesterday 
his village, is gazed at with curiosity. 

At Weenonah, 1 so lately the residence of Wapashaw, 2 
there is already an embryo city of several thousand in- 
habitants, and two newspapers ; at Raymneecha, the re- 
cent village of the Red Wing band, at the head of Lake 
Pepin, there is a busy town, the seat of a Collegiate 
Institute, with comfortable church edifices of brick, 
and an industrious population. At Shokpay, 3 w r hich 
was one of the largest Dahkotah 4 villages, is a thriving 
county seat, with a population that is rapidly increasing. 
Near the old mission-house of Traverse des Sioux, is 
the town of St. Peter, and a few miles beyond is the 
city of Mankahto, at the mouth of the Blue Earth river. 

Notwithstanding the erroneous impressions that have 
prevailed, that Minnesota was too far north for agricul- 
tural success, and the emigration to Kansas, Nebraska, 
and California, its growth has been surprising. In 
1849, the population was less than Hwe thousand, in- 
cluding all of the soldiers of the forts; in 1857, a census 
that was not fully completed, presented the following fig- 
ures : — 136,464. Since then there has been great increase. 

1 In several places we write s Shokpay or Shakpay, is now 

Winona as it is pronounced, because written Shakopee, but we prefer the 

some are beginning to talk of the old method. 

town of Wyenonay, a barbarism * Dahkotah is also spelled Dakota, 

that would shock a Dahkotah. Dacota, Dahcotah, and Dakotah. 

- 2 Wapashaw is used for Wabasha, The accent is emphatic, and on the 

because more correct and euphonious penult. 
— See Dahkotah Lexicon, vol. iv. 
Smithsonian Publications. 



DESCRIPTION OF FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY, 1848. 
POPULATION OF MINNESOTA. 



xlix 



County. 



Aitken 

Anoka 

Broker 

1 eltrsillll 

Benton 

Big Stone... 
Blue Earth., 



Flown 

Buch.TKt/i , 



y- 



■u a. 



( IlIMigo 

Clny 

Cottonwood . 
Crow Wing.. 

Dakota 

Dodge 

Douglas 

Faribault 

Fillmore , 

Freeborn 

Goodhue 

Grant 

Hennepin.... 
Houston 



.mi 



Itasca 

Jackson 

Kanaheck 

Kandiyohi 

Lac qui Parle. 

I.ake 

Le Sueur 

Mankahto 

Manomin 

Martin 

McLeod 

totals... 



1870 


18GO 


1850 


178 


2 




3,940 


2,106 




308 


386 




so 






1,558 


627 


418 


24 






17,302 


4,803 
79 




6,393 


2,339 
26 




286 


51 




11,586 


5,106 




380 


150 




1,467 






4,358 


1,743 




92 






534 


12 




200 


269 




16,312 


9,093 




8,598 


3,797 




4,239 


195 




9,940 


1,335 




24.887 


13,542 




10,578 


3,367 




22,618 


8,977 




340 






31,566 


12.849 




14.936 


6.64 i 




2.d35 


284 




96 


51 


97 


1,825 


181 • 




92 


30 




1.760 


76 




145 






135 


248 




11,607 


5,318 
136 


"158 


3,867 


151 




5,643 


1,286 





County. 



Meeker 

Mille Lacs 

Monongalia 

Morrison 

Mower 

Murray 

Nicollet 

Nobles 

Olmsted 

Otter Tail 

Pembina 

Pierce 

Piue 

Pipe SUme 

Polk; 

Pope 

Ramsey 

Redwood 

Renville 

Rice 

Rock 

Scott 

Sherburne 

Sibley 

Stearns 

Steele 

Stevens 

St. Louis 

Todd 

Traverse 

Wabashaw 

Wadena 

Walmata 

Waseca. 

Washington | 11 

Watonwan 2 

Wilkin 

Winona 

Wright 



1870 1860 1850 



648 



085 



928 

73 

350 

618 

3,217 

29 

3,773 

35 

9,524 

240 

1,612 

11 

91 

23 

240 



12,150 



245 
7,543 



3,595 
723 

2.609 
4.505 
2.863 



406 



2,601 
6.123 



40 
9.208 
3.729 



1,134 



2,227 



243 

"im 

1,056 



.439,706 172,023 6,077 



For population of Counties in 1880 see Appendix Q. 
PRINCIPAL TOWNS— 1880. 



Minneapolis 45.887 

St. Paul 41,408 

Winona 10,2tA 

Stillwater 9.054 

lied Wing 5,a7o 



Mankato 5,550 

F»ribauit 5,415 

Roc. estei 5,lu3 

Hastinjra 3,809 

St. .feler 3,43b 



Owatonna 3,161 

Du 1 uth 2,*05 

Anoka 2,706 

St Cloud 2.462 

Austin 2.039 



In 1848, Minnesota seemed a wilderness to a divine, 
the Rev. Albert Barnes, of Philadelphia, who visited the 
country on a tour of pleasure ; and he thus presents his 
views of a locality, which is spanned by several bridges, 
the seat of the State University, and a city of above 
fifty -five thousand active inhabitants : — 

" I visited the Falls of St. Anthony. I know not 
how other men feel when standing there, nor how men 
will feel a century hence, when standing there — then, 



1 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

not in the West, but almost in the centre of aur great 
nation. But when I stood there and reflected on the 
distance between that and the place of my birth and 
my home ; on the prairies over which I had passed ; 
and the stream— the ' Father of Rivers' — up which I 
had sailed some five hundred miles, into a new and un- 
settled land — where the children of the forest still live 
and roam — I had views of the greatness of my country, 
such as I have never had in the crowded capitals and 
the smiling villages, of the East. Far in the distance 
did they then seem to be ; and there came over the 
soul the idea of greatness, and vastness, which no figures, 
no description, had ever conveyed to my mind. To an 
inexperienced traveller, too, how strange is the appear- 
ance of all that land ! * * * * You ascend the 
Mississippi amidst scenery unsurpassed in beauty 
probably in the world. You see the waters making 
their way along an interval of from two to four 
miles in width — between bluffs of from one hundred 
to five hundred feet in height. Now the river makes 
its way along the eastern range of bluffs, and now 
the western, and now in the centre, and now it 
divides itself into numerous channels, forming thou- 
sands of beautiful islands, covered with long grass, 
ready for the scythe of the mower. Those bluffs, 
rounded with taste and skill, such as could be imitated 
by no art of man, and set out with trees here and there, 
gracefully arranged like orchards, seem to have been 
sown with grain to the summit, and are clothed with 
beautiful green. You look out instinctively for the 
house and barn; for flocks and herds; for men, and 
women, and children ; but they are not there. A race 
that is gone seems to have cultivated those fields, and 



MINNESOTA, THE SKY-TINTED WATER. li 

then to have silently disappeared — -leaving them for the 
first man that should come from the older parts of our 
own country, or from foreign lands, to take possession 
of them. It is only by a process of reflection that you 
are convinced that it is not so." 

The state of Minnesota derives its name from the 
principal tributary of the Mississippi within its bounda- 
ries. The name is a compound Dahkotah word. This 
nation call the Missouri, Minneshoshay, muddy water, 
and this stream Minnesota. The precise signification 
of Sota is difficult to express. Some writers have 
said it means clear, Schoolcraft bluish green, others 
turbid. Nicollet remarks : — 

" The adjective Sotah is of difficult translation. The 
Canadians translated it by a pretty equivalent word 
brouille, perhaps more properly rendered into English 
by blear, as for instance Mimsorah, blear water. I 
have entered upon this explanation because the word 
sotah really means neither clear nor turbid, as some 
authors have asserted, its true meaning being readily 
found, in the Sioux expression Ishta-sotah, blear eyed." 

From the fact that the word signifies neither white 
nor blue, but the peculiar appearance of the sky on 
certain days, the Historical Society publications, define 
Minnesota to mean the shy4inted water, which is 
certainly poetic, and according to Gideon H. Pond, one 
of the best Dahkotah scholars, correct. 

Throughout the work, we have called the tribe w r ho 
were the aborigines of Minnesota, Dahkotahs, a name 
by which they recognise themselves. The term Sioux 
is a mere nickname given for convenience by the early 
voyageurs. 

Minnesota, as a state, ought to have the highest aspi- 



lii 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



rations. The birthplace of many rivers, flowing north, 
south, east, and west ; with varied scenery, the prairie, 
the forest, the lofty bluff, the placid lake, and the 
laughing waterfall ; the summit of the central valley of 
North America ; with an atmosphere peculiarly dry and 
bracing, it must ever be attractive to emigrants from all 
regions of the world. If the aims of her citizens only 
correspond with the elevated natural position and ad- 
vantages, the cattle upon a thousand hills will soon 
occupy the old pasture-grounds of the elk and bison, 
and school-houses will crown the eminences but lately 
adorned with burial scaffolds ; and the State will become 
the birth-place of not only majestic rivers, but great 
men. 

If the perusal of the following pages shall tend to 
foster a proper State pride, and interest the generation 
now springing up in the history of their country, the 
chief end of the work will have been attained. 




HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER I. 



Minnesota is the "land of the Dahkotahs." Long 
before their existence was known to civilized men, they 
wandered through the forests, between Lake Superior 
and the Mississippi, in quest of the bounding deer, and 
over the prairies beyond in search of the ponderous 
buffalo. 

They are an entirely different group from the Algon- 
quin and Iroquois, who were found by the early settlers 
of the Atlantic States, on the banks of the Connecticut, 
Mohawk, and Susquehanna rivers. Their language is 
much more difficult to comprehend; and, while they 
have many customs in common with the tribes who 
once dwelt in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, 
and Illinois, they have peculiarities which mark them 
as belonging to a distinct family of the aborigines of 
America. 

Winona, Wapashaw, Mendota, Anoka, Kasota, Mah- 
kahto, and other names designating the towns, hamlets, 
and streams of Minnesota, are words derived from the 
Dahkotah vocabulary. 

Between the head of Lake Superior and the Missis- 

4 (49) 



50 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

sippi river, above the Falls of Saint Anthony, is a 
country of many lakes. So numerous are they, and 
interlaced by clear and sparkling brooks, to an aeronaut 
they would appear like a necklace of diamonds, on silver 
filaments, gracefully thrown upon the bosom of Earth. 

Surrounded by forests of the sugar maple — the neigh- 
bouring marshes fertile in the growth of wild rice — the 
waters abounding in fish — the shores once alive with 
the beaver, the otter, the bear, and the fox — they were 
sites just adapted for the residence of an Indian popu- 
lation. 

When the Dahkotahs were first noticed by the Euro- 
pean adventurer, large numbers were occupying this 
region of country, and appropriately called by the voya- 
geur, " People of the Lakes." * And tradition, asserts 
that here, was the ancient centre of this tribe. Though 
we have traces of their warring and hunting on the 
shores of Lake Superior, there is no satisfactory evidence 
of their residence, east of the Mille Lac region. 2 

The word Dahkotah, by which they love to be desig- 
nated, signifies allied or joined together in friendly com- 
pact, and is equivalent to " E pluribus unum," the motto 
on the seal of the United States. 

In the history of the mission at La Pointe, Wisconsin, 
published nearly two centuries ago, a writer, referring 
to the Dahkotahs, remarks : — 

" For sixty leagues from the extremity of the Upper 
Lake, toward sunset; and, as it were in the centre of 
the western nations, they have all united their force by 
a general league." 

1 Gens du Lac. 

2 They have no name for Lake Superior. — G. H. Pond, in " Dahkotah 
Tawaxitku Kin" 



THE NAMES SIOUX, AND DAHKOTAH. 51 

The Dahkotahs in the earliest documents, and even 
until the present day, are called Sioux, Scioux, or Soos. 
The name originated with the early " voyageurs." Fo* 
centuries the Ojibways of Lake Superior wage I war 
against the Dahkotahs ; and, whenever they spoke of 
them, called them Nadowaysioux, which signifies ene- 
mies. 

The French traders, to avoid exciting the attention 
of Indians, while conversing in their presence, were 
accustomed to designate them by names, which would 
not be recognised. 

The Dahkotahs were nicknamed Sioux, a word com- 
posed, of the two last syllables, of the Ojibway word, for 
foes. 

Charlevoix, who visited Wisconsin in 1721, in his 
history of New France says : " The name of Sioux, that 
we give to these Indians, is entirely of our own making, 
or rather it is the last two syllables of the name of 
Nadouessioux, as manv nations call them." 

From an early period, there have been three great 
divisions of this people, which have been subdivided 
into smaller bands. The first are called the Isanyati, 
the Issati of Hennepin, after one of the many lakes 
at the head waters of the river, marked on modern 
maps, by the unpoetic name of Rum. It is asserted by 
Dahkotah missionaries now living, that this name was 
given to the lake because the stone from which they 
manufactured the knife (isan) was here obtained. The 
principal band of the Isanti was the M'dewakanton- 
wan. 1 In the journal of Le Sueur, they are spoken 
of as residing on a lake east of the Mississippi. Tra- 

1 Pronounced as if written Medday-wawkawn-twawn. 



52 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

dition says that it was a day's walk from Isantamde or 
Knife Lake. 

On a map prepared in Paris in 1703, Hum River is 
called the river of the M'dewakantonwans, and the 
Spirit Lake on which they dwelt, was, without doubt, 
Mille Lac of modern charts. 

The second great division is the Ihanktonwan^ com- 
monly called Yankton. They appear to have occupied 
the region west of the M'dewakantonwan, and north of 
the Minnesota river. The geographer De Lisle places 
their early residence in the vicinity of Traverse des 
Sioux, extending northward. 

The last division, the Titonwan, hunted west of the 
Ihanktons, and all the early maps mark their villages 
at Lac-qui-parle and Big Stone Lake. 

Hennepin, in August, 1679, in the vicinity of the 
Falls of Niagara, met the Senecas returning from war 
with the Dahkotahs, and with them some captive Tin- 
tonwans (Teetwawns). 

This division is now the most numerous, and comprises 
about one-half of the whole nation. They have wan- 
dered to the plains beyond the Missouri, and are the 
plundering Arabs of America. Whenever they appear 
in sight of the emigrant train, journeying to the Pacific 
coast, the hearts of the company are filled with painful 
apprehensions. 

North of the Dahkotahs, on Lake of the Woods and 
the watercourses connecting it with Lake Superior, 
were the Assiniboine. These were once a portion of the 
nation. Before the other divisions of the Dahkotahs 
had traded with the French, they had borne their pel- 
tries to the English post, Fort Nelson, on Hudson's Bay. 
and had received in return British manufactures. Bj 



DIFFERENT DAHKOTAH BANDS. 53 

association with the English, they learned to look upon 
the French with distrust, and in time to be hostile 
towards those who had formed alliances with the 
French. 

Le Sueur writes, in relation to their separation from 
the rest of the nation, in these words : — 

"•The Assinipoils speak Scioux, and are certainly of 
that nation. It is only a few years since they became 
enemies. It thus originated : The Christianaux having 
the use of arms before the Scioux, through the English 
at Hudson's Bay, they constantly warred upon the 
Asssinipoils, who were their nearest neighbours. The 
latter being weak sued for peace, and, to render it more 
lasting, married the Christianaux women. The other 
Scioux, who had not made the compact, continued to 
war, and seeing some Christianaux with the Assinipoils, 
broke their heads." After this there was alienation. A 
letter, however, written at Fort Bourbon, on Hudson's 
Bay, about 1695, remarks : " It is said that the Assini- 
boins are a nation of the Sioux, which separated from 
them a long time ago." 

The Dahkotahs call these alienated tribes Hohays, 
and make woman the cause of the separation. They 
are said to have belonged to the Ihanktonwan (Yankton) 
division of the nation. A quarrel, tradition asserts, 
occurred between two families hunting at the time in 
the vicinity of Lake Traverse. A young man seduced 
the wife of one of the warriors. The injured husband, 
in attempting to rescue his wife, was killed in the tent 
of the seducer. His father and some relatives wanted 
to secure the corpse. On the road, they were met, by 
some of the friends of the guilty youth, and three of 
their number were killed. The father then turned back 



54 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

and raised a party of sixty warriors, who waged war 
against the seducer and his friends, which continued 
until the whole band were involved, and ended in a 
revolt upon the part of the aggressor and his friends, who 
in time became a separate people. 

In the valleys of the Blue Earth, the Des Moines, and 
the eastern tributaries of the Missouri, within the limits 
of the territory of Minnesota, there also dwelt in ancient 
days bands of the Ioways, Ottoes, Cheyennes, Aricarees, 
and Omahaws, who sought other hunting-grounds as 
the Dahkotahs advanced westward. 

The Dahkotahs, like all ignorant and barbarous peo- 
ple, have but little reflection beyond that necessary to 
gratify the pleasure of revenge and of the appetite. 

It would be strange to find heroes among skulking 
savages, or maidens like " Minnehaha" of the poet, 
among those whose virtue can be easily purchased. 
While there are exceptions, the general characteristics 
of the Dahkotahs, and all Indians, are indolence, im- 
purity, and indifference to the future. 

The religion of this people is exceedingly indistinct, 
and with reluctance do they converse on the subject. 
That a nation so low in the scale of humanity should 
have preserved the idea of one great spirit, the' father 
of all spirits, the supreme and most perfect of beings, 
is not to be supposed. To attribute to them more 
elevated conceptions than those of the cultivated Athe- 
nians, is perfect absurdity. The Dahkotahs, in their 
religious belief, are polytheists. The hunter, as he 
passes over the plains, finds a granite boulder : he stops 
and prays to it, for it is " Wawkawr? — mysterious or 
supernatural. At another time, he will pray to his 
dog ; and at another time, to the sun, moon, or stars. 



DAHKOTAH WORSHIP AND GODS. 55 

In every leaf, in every stone, in every shrub, there is a 
spirit. It may be said of them, as Cotton Mather said 
of the Massachusetts Indians, in his Life of Eliot : " Ah 
the religion they have amounts to thus much : they 
believe that there are many gods, who made and own 
the several nations of the world. They believe that 
every remarkable creature has a peculiar god within or 
about it ; there is with them a sun god or a moon god 
and the like ; and they cannot conceive but that the fire 
must be a kind of god, inasmuch as a spark of it will 
soon produce very strange effects. They believe that 
when any good or ill happens to them, there is the 
favour or anger of a god expressed in it." 

The Dahkotahs have greater and minor deities, and 
they are supposed to multiply as men and animals, and 
the superior to have power to exterminate the inferior. 

The Jupiter Maximus of the Dahkotahs is styled 
Oanktayhee. As the ancient Hebrews avoided speak- 
ing the name of Jehovah, so they dislike to speak the 
name of this deity, but call him " Taku-wakan," or 
" That which is supernatural." This mighty god mani- 
fests himself as a large ox. His eyes are as large as the 
moon. He can haul in his horns and tail, or he can 
lengthen them, as he pleases. From him proceed in- 
visible influences. In his extremities reside mighty 
powers. 

He is said to have created the earth. Assembling in 
grand conclave all of the aquatic tribes, he ordered them 
to bring up dirt from beneath the water, and proclaimed 
death to the disobedient. The beaver and others for- 
feited their lives. At last the muskrat went beneath 
the waters, and, after a long time, appeared at the sur- 
face nearly exhausted, with some dirt. From this, 



56 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Oanktayhee fashioned the earth into a large circular 
plain. 

The earth being finished, he took a deity, one of his 
own offspring, and grinding him to powder, sprinkled it 
upon the earth, and this produced many worms. The 
worms were then collected and scattered again. They 
matured into infants ; and these were then collected and 
scattered and became full-grown Dahkotahs. 

The bones of the mastodon, the Dahkotahs think, are 
those of Oanktayhee, and they preserve them with the 
greatest care in the medicine bag. It is the belief of 
the Dahkotahs that the Rev. R. Hopkins, who was 
drowned at Traverse des Sioux, on July 4th, 1851, was 
killed by Oanktayhee, who dwells in the waters, because 
he had preached against him. 

This deity is supposed to have a dwelling-place 
beneath the Falls of Saint Anthony. A few years ago, 
by the sudden breaking up of a gorge of ice, a cabin 
near Fort Snelling, containing a soldier, was swept off 
by the flood. The Dahkotahs supposed that this great 
god was descending the river at the time, and, being 
hungry, devoured the man. 

Hay-o-kah (the anti-natural god) . — There are four per- 
sons in this godhead. The first appears like a tall and 
slender man with two faces, like the Janus of ancient 
mythology. Apollo-like, he holds a bow in his hand 
streaked with red lightning, also a rattle of deer claws. 
The second is a little old man with a cocked hat and 
enormous ears, holding a yellow bow. The third, a man 
with a flute suspended from his neck. The fourth \& 
invisible and mysterious, and is the gentle zephyr which 
bends the grass and causes the ripple of the water. 

Hayokah is a perfect paradox. He calls bitter sweet r 



HAYOKAH, AND OTHER DEITIES. 57 

and sweet bitter ; he groans when he is fr_II of joy ; he 
laughs when he is in distress ; he calls black, white, and 
white, black ; when he wishes to tell the truth he speaks 
a He, and when he desires to lie, he speaks the truth ; in 
winter he goes naked, and in summer he wraps up in 
buffalo robes. The little hills on the prairies are called 
Hayo-kah-tee, or the house of Hay-o-kah. Those whom 
he inspires, can make the winds blow and the rain fall, 
the grass to grow and wither. 

There is said to exist a clan who especially adore this 
deity, and at times dance in his honour. At dawn of day 
they assemble within a teepee, in the centre of which is 
a fire, over which are suspended kettles. With cone- 
shaped hats and ear-rings, both made of bark, and loins 
girded with the same material, they look like incarnate 
demons. On their hats are zigzag streaks of paint — 
representations of lightning. 

The company remain seated and smoking around the 
fire, until the water in the kettle begins to boil, which 
is a signal for the commencement of the dance. The 
excitement now becomes intense. They jump, shout, 
and sing around the fire, and at last plunge their hands 
into the cauldron, seize and eat the boiled meat. Then 
they throw the scalding water, on each others backs, 
the sufferers never wincing, but insisting that it is cold. 

Taku-shkax-shkax. — This deity is supposed to be 
invisible, yet everywhere present. He is full of revenge, 
exceedingly wrathful, very deceitful, and a searcher of 
hearts. His favourite haunts are the four winds, and 
the granite boulders strewn on the plains of Minnesota. 
He is never so happy as when he beholds scalps, warm 
and reeking with blood. 

The object of that strange ceremony of the Dahko- 



58 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

tahs, in whiuh the performer being bound hand and foot 
with the greatest care, is suddenly unbound by an invi- 
sible agent, is to obtain an interview with Taku-shkan- 
shkan. 

The name of another one of the superior divinities 
is Wahkeenyan. His teepee is supposed to be on a 
mound on the top of a high mountain, in the far West. 
The teepee or tent has four openings, with sentinels 
elothed in red down. A butterfly is stationed at the 
east, a bear at the west, a fawn at the south, and a 
reindeer at the north entrance. He is supposed to be 
a gigantic bird, the flapping of whose wings makes 
thunder. He has a bitter enmity against Oanktayhee, 
and attempts to kill his offspring. The high water a 
few years ago was supposed to be caused by his shooting 
through the earth, and allowing the water to flow out. 
When the lightning strikes their teepees or the ground, 
they think that Oanktayhee was near the surface of the 
earth, and that Wahkeenyan, in great rage, fired a hot 
thunderbolt at him. 

By him wild rice, is said to have been created, also 
the spear, and tomahawk. 

A bird of thunder was once killed, the Indians assert, 
near Kaposia. Its face resembled the human counte- 
nance. Its nose was hooked like the bill of an eagle. 
Its wings had four joints, and zigzag like the lightning. 

About thirty miles from Big Stone Lake, near the 
head waters of the Minnesota, there are several small 
lakes bordered with oak-trees. This is the supposed 
birth-place of the Thunder Bird, and is called the Nest 
of Thunder. The first step the spirit ever took in this 
world was equal to that of the hero, in the child's story, 
who wore seven-league boots, being twenty-five miles in 
length. A rock is pointed out which has a foot-like 



WAHKEENYAN.— THUNDER BIRD. 59 

impression, which they say is his track ; and the hill is 
called Thunder Tracks. 

A son of Colonel Snelling, the first commander of 
the fort of that name, in a poem, which is published in 
Griswold's collection of American poetry, alludes to the 
foregoing incidents :-<- 

" The moon that night withheld her light. 
By fits, instead, a lurid glare 
Illumed the skies ; while mortal eyes 

Were closed, and voices rose in prayer 
While the revolving sun 
Three times his course might run, 

The dreadful darkness lasted ; 
And all that time the red man's eye 
A sleeping spirit might espy, 
Upon a tree-top cradled high, 

Whose trunk his breath had blasted. 
So long he slept, he grew so fast, 

Beneath his weight the gnarled oak 
Snapped, as the tempest snaps the mast: 

It fell, and Thunder woke ! 
The world to its foundation shook, 
The grizzly bear his prey forsook, 
The scowling heaven an aspect bore 
That man had never seen before ; 
The wolf in terror fled away, 
And shone at last the light of day. 

'* 'Twas here he stood ; these lakes attest 
Where first Waw-kee-an's footsteps press'd. 
About his burning brow a cloud, 

Black as the raven's wing, he wore ; 
Thick tempests wrapt him like a shroud, 

Red lightnings in his hand he bore ; 
Like two bright suns his eyeballs shone, 
His voice was like the cannon's tone ; 
And, where he breathed, the land became, 
Prairie and wood, one sheet of flame. 

"Not long upon this mountain height 
The first and worst of storms abode, 



60 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

For, moving in his fearful might, 

Abroad the GoD-begotten strode. 
Afar, on yonder faint blue mound, 
In the horizon's utmost bound, 
At the first stride his foot he set ; 

The jarring world confessed the shock. 
Stranger ! the track of Thunder yet 

Remains upon the living rock. 

" The second step, he gained the sand 
On far Superior's storm-beat strand : 
Then with his shout the concave rung, 
As up to heaven the giant sprung 

On high, beside his sire to dwell ; 
But still, of all the spots on earth, 
He loves the woods that gave him birth. — 

Such is the tale our fathers tell." 

After an individual has dreamed in relation to the 
sun, there are sacred ceremonies. Two persons are the 
participants, who assume a peculiar attitude. Almost 
naked, holding a small whistle in their mouths, they 
look towards the sun, and dance with a strange and 
awkward step. One of their interpreters remarks, 
" The nearest and best comparison I can make of them 
when worshipping, is a frog held up by the middle with 
its legs half drawn up." 

During the continuance of the ceremony, which may 
last two or three days, the parties fast. 

When a Dahkotah is troubled in spirit, and desires to 
be delivered from real or imaginary danger, he will select 
a stone that is round and portable, and, placing it in a 
spot free from grass and underbrush, he will streak it 
with red paint, and, offering to it some feathers, he will 
pray to it for help. The stone, after the ceremony is 
over, does not appear to be regarded with veneration. 
If visitors request them, they can be obtained. 



SACRED MEN INITIATED. 61 



CHAPTER II. 

In all nations where the masses are unenlightened, 
their spiritual nature is uncultivated, and they believe 
whatever a class of men pretending to have authority 
from the spirit world, may impose upon them. All 
ignorant communities are superstitious and easily priest- 
ridden. The early Britons looked upon the Druids, as 
a supernatural, and wonder-working class, and they 
fed, and feared them. The Wawkawn, or medicine 
men, hold the same relation to the Dahkotahs as the 
Druids to the ancient Britons. They are the most 
powerful and influential of the tribe. They are looked 
upon as a species of demi-gods. They assert their 
origin to be miraculous. At first they are spiritual 
existences, encased in a seed of some description of a 
winged nature, like the thistle. Wafted by the breeze 
to the dwelling-place of the gods, they are received to 
intimate communion. After being instructed in rela- 
tion to the mysteries of the spirit world, they go forth 
to study the character of all tribes. After deciding 
upon a residence, they enter the body of some one 
about to become a mother, and are ushered by her into 
the world. A great majority of the M'dewakantonwans 
are medicine men. 

When an individual desires to belong to this priest- 



62 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

hood, he is initiated by what is termed a "medicine 
dance." This dance is said to have been instituted 
by Oanktayhee, the patron of medicine men. The 
editor of the "Dahkotah Friend," in a description of 
this dance, remarks : — 

" When a member is to be received into this society, 
it is his duty, to take the hot bath, four days in succes- 
sion. In the mean time, some of the elders of the 
society instruct him in the mysteries of the medicine, 
and Wahmnoo-Aah — shell in the throat. He is also 
provided with a dish (wojute) and spoon. On the side 
of the dish is sometimes carved the head of some vora- 
cious animal, in which resides the spirit of Eeyah (glut- 
ton god). This dish is always carried by its owner to 
the medicine feast, and it is his duty, ordinarily, to eat 
all which is served up in it. Gray Iron has a dish 
which was given him at the time of his initiation, on 
the bottom of which is carved, a bear complete. The 
candidate is also instructed with what paints, and in 
what manner, he shall paint himself, which must always 
be the same, when he appears in the dance. There is 
supernatural virtue in this paint, and the manner in 
which it is applied ; and those who have not been fur- 
nished with a better, by the regular war prophets, wear 
it into battle, as a life-preserver. The bag contains 
besides, the claws of animals, with the toanwan of 
which they can, it is believed, inflict painful diseases 
and death on whomsoever, and whenever, they desire. 

" The candidate being thus duly prepared for initia- 
tion, and having made the necessary offerings for the 
benefit of the institution, on the evening of the day pre- 
vious to the dance a lodge is prepared, and from ten to 
twenty of the more substantial members pass the night 



MEDICINE DANCE AND SONGS. 63 

in singing, dancing, and feasting. In the morning, the 
tent is opened for the dance. After a few appropriate 
ceremonies preliminary to the grand operation, the can- 
didate takes his place on a pile of blankets which he 
has contributed for the occasion, naked, except the 
breech-cloth and moccasins, duly painted and prepared 
for the mysterious operation. An elder having been 
stationed in the rear of the novice, the master of the 
ceremonies, with his knee and hip joints bent to an 
angle of about forty-five degrees, advances, with an 
unsteady, unnatural step, with his bag in his hand. 
uttering, " Heen, keen, keen" with great energy, and 
raising the bag near a painted spot on the breast of the 
candidate, gives the discharge, the person stationed in 
the rear gives him a push forward at the same instant, 
and as he falls headlong throws the blankets over him 
Then, while the dancers gather around him and chant, 
the master throws off the covering, and, chewing a piece 
of the bone of the OanktayAee, spirts it over him, and 
he revives, and resumes a sitting posture. All then 
return to their seats except the maste? he approaches, 
and, making indescribable noises, pats upon the breast 
of the novice, till the latter, in agonizing throes, heaves 
up the Wahmnoo-Aah or shell, which falls from his 
mouth upon the bag which had been previously spread 
before him for that purpose. Life being now completely 
restored, and with the mysterious shell in his open 
hand, the new-made member passes around and exhi- 
bits it to all the members and to the wondering by- 
standers, and the ceremonies of initiation are closed. 
The dance continues, interspersed with shooting each 
other, rests, smoking, and taking refreshments, till they 
have jumped to the music of four sets of singers. Be- 



64 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

sides vocal music, they make use of the drum and the 
gourd-shell rattle. The following chants, which are 
used in the dance, will hest exhibit the character of 
this mysterious institution of the OanktayAee : — 

" Waduta ohna micage. 
Waduta ohna micage. 
Miniyata ite wakan de maqu, 
Tunkanixdan. 

" He created it for me enclosed in red down. 
He created it for me enclosed in red down. 
He in the water with a mysterious visage gave me this, 
My grandfather. 

" Tunkanixdan pejihuta wakan micage, 
He wicake. 
Miniyata oicage wakan kin maqu ye, 

Tunkanixdan ite kin yuwinta wo. 
Wahutopa yuha ite yuwinto wo. 

" My grandfather created for me mysterious medicine, 
That is true. 
The mysterious being in the water gave it to me. 

Stretch out your hand before the face of my grandfather, 
Having a quadruped, stretch out your hand before him." 

The medicine pouch is the skin of an otter, fox, or 
similar animal, containing certain articles which are 
held sacred. 

A warrior leaving his village to hunt, gave his pouch 
to a friend of the writer, who had dwelt as a missionary 
among the Dahkotahs for a score of years. The owner 
having died, he retained it, and, being at his house one 
day, it was, at my request, opened. The contents were 
some dried mud, a dead beetle, a few roots, and a scrap 
of an old letter, which had probably been picked up 
about the walls of Fort Snelling. 

Where the science of medicine is not understood, the 



PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.— VAPOUR BATH. 65 

Inhabitants are very superstitious concerning the sick. 
Those who are prominent in their devotion to the sacred 
rites of a heathen tribe, generally act as physicians 
The Druids of the early Britons performed the duties 
of doctors, and the conjurers, or medicine men, as they 
-are generally termed, are called to attend the sick Dah- 
kotahs. This tribe of Indians are well acquainted with 
the bones of the body ; but no Dr. Hunter has yet risen 
among them to explain the circulation of the blood, and 
therefore they have but a single word for nerves, arteries, 
and veins. When a young man is sick, he is generally 
well watched; but old persons, and those that have 
some deformity, are often neglected. To effect a cure, 
they often practise what is called steaming. They 
erect a small tent covered with thick buffalo robes, in 
which they place some hot stones. Stripping the sick 
person of his blanket, they place him in the tent. 
Water is then thrown upon the hot stones, which creates 
considerable vapour. After the patient has been confined 
in this close tent for some time, and has perspired pro- 
fusely, they occasionally take him out and plunge him 
into the waters of an adjacent river or lake. 

This custom is very ancient. One of the first white 
men who appear to have resided amongst them, was a 
Franciscan priest, named Hennepin. He was made 
their prisoner in the year 1680, while travelling on the 
Mississippi, above the Wisconsin river. The Dahkotahs 
took him to their villages on the shores of Rum river, 
at Mille Lac, where he was quartered in a. chief's lodge, 
whose name was Aquipaguetin. The chief observing 
that Hennepin was much fatigued, ordered an oven to 
be made, which, to use the words of the Franciscan, 
■" he ordered me to enter, stark naked, with four 



66 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

savages. The oven was covered with buffalo hides, and 
in it they placed red-hot flint and other stones. They 
ordered me to hold my breath as long as I could. As 
soon as the savages that were with me let go their 
breath, which they did with a great force, Aquipaguetin 
began to sing. The others seconded him ; and laying 
their hands on my body began to rub, and at the same 
time cry bitterly. I was near fainting, and forced to 
leave the oven. At my coming out, I could scarcely 
take up my cloak. However, they continued to make 
me sweat thrice a week, which at last restored me to 
my former vigour." 

When a Dahkotah is very sick, the friends call in a 
conjurer or medicine man. Before we proceed, it is 
proper to explain the meaning of the term " medicine 
man." Anything that is mysterious or wonderful, the 
Dahkotahs call " Wawkawn." The early explorers and 
traders in Minnesota were French, and they always 
call a doctor " medecin." As the Indian doctors are 
all dealers in mysteries, the word "medicine" has at 
last obtained a local signification, meaning anything 
that is mysterious or unaccountable. A "medicine 
man" means, then, a doctor who calls to his aid charms 
and incantations. The medicine men are divided into 
var prophets, and conjurers or doctors. 

A Dahkotah, when he is sick, believes that he is pos- 
sessed by the spirit of some animal, or insect, or enemy. 
The medicine men, are supposed to have great power of 
suction in their jaws, by which they can draw out the 
spirit that afflicts the patient, and thus restore him to 
health. They are much feared by all the tribe. The 
doctor is called to see a sick person by sending some one 
with a present of a horse or blankets, or something as 



MEDICAL PRACTICE. 67 

valuable. The messenger sometimes carries a bell, and 
rings around the lodge until the conjurer makes his 
appearance ; at other times he bears to the doctor's 
lodge a lighted pipe, and presenting it to him, places 
his hands on his head and moans. 

" The person sent to call on the doctor, strips himself 
for running, retaining only his breech cloth, and carry- 
ing a bell. He enters the lodge, and without further 
ceremony, strikes the doctor with his foot, jingles his 
bell, and suddenly issuing from the lodge, runs with all 
his might for the sick man's lodge, with the doctor at 
his heels. If the latter overtakes and kicks him before 
he reaches the lodge, he does not proceed any further, 
but returns home. Another person is then despatched, 
and it is not until one is sent who is too swift for him, 
that the doctor's services can be secured." 

The doctor having entered the tent, without touching 
the patient, begins to strip himself, leaving nothing upon 
his body but the breech cloth, and moccasins. Having 
obtained a sacred rattle, which is nothing more than a 
dried gourd, filled with a few kernels of corn, or beads, 
he begins to shake and sing in unearthly monotones. 
He now gets upon his knees, and, to use a vulgarism, 
" crawls on all fours," up to his patient. After a few 
moments we see him rise again retching violently, and 
picking up a bowl of water thrusts his face therein, and 
begins to make a gurgling noise. Into this bowl he 
professes 1 to expectorate the spirit which has incited the 
disease. The doctor having decided what animal has 
possessed his patient, he has an image of the animal made 
out of bark, and placed outside near the tent door in a 
vessel of water. Mr. Prescott, United States Interpreter 
of the Dahkotahs, in a communication upon this subject 



68 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

says : " The animal made of bark is to be shot. Two 
or three Indians are in waiting, standing near the bowl, 
with loaded guns, ready to shoot when the conjurer 
gives the signal. To be sure that the conjuring shall 
have the desired effect, a woman must stand astride the 
bowl, when the men fire into it, with her dress raised 
as high as the knees. The men are instructed how to 
act by the conjurer ; and as soon as he makes his ap- 
pearance out of doors, they all fire into the bowl, and 
blow the little bark animal to pieces. The woman 
steps aside, and the juggler makes a jump at the bowl 
on his hands and knees, and commences blubbering in 
the water. While this is going on, the woman has to 
jump on the juggler's back, and stand there a moment ; 
then she gets off, and as soon as he has finished his 
incantations, the woman takes him by the hair of his 
head, and pulls him back into the lodge. If there are 
any fragments found of the animal that has been shot, 
they are buried. If this does not cure, a similar cere- 
mony is performed, but some other kind of animal is 
shaped out." 

Among the earliest songs, to which a Dahkotah child 
listens, are those of war. As soon as he begins to totter 
about, he carries as a plaything, a miniature bow, and 
arrow. The first thing he is taught, as great and truly 
noble, is taking a scalp, and he pants to perform an act, 
which is so manly. At the age of sixteen, he is often 
on the war path. When a boy is of the proper age to 
go to war, he is presented with weapons, or he makes a 
war club. He then consecrates certain parts of animals, 
which he vows, not to eat. After he has killed an enemy, 
he is at liberty, to eat of any one of those portions of an 
animal, from which he agreed to abstain. If he kills 



CRUELTY TO FOES. 69 

another person, the prohibition is taken off from another 
part, until finally he has emancipated himself from his 
oath, by his bravery. Before young men go out on a 
war party, they endeavour to propitiate the patron deity 
by a feast. During the hours of night, they celebrate 
the " armour feast," which is distinguished by drumming, 
singing, and agonizing shrieks. 

The war prophets or priests, by the narrating of pre- 
tended dreams, or by inspiring oratory, incite the tribe 
against an enemy. If a party are successful in securing 
scalps, they paint themselves black, and return home in 
mad triumph. As they approach their village, those 
who are there run forth to greet them, and strip them 
of their clothes, and supply them with others. The 
scalp is very carefully prepared for exhibition, being 
painted red, and stretched upon a hoop, which is fastened 
to a pole. If the scalp is from a man, it is decked with 
an eagle's feather, if from a woman, with a comb. At 
a scalp dance, which we once attended at Kaposia, the 
braves stood on one side of the circle, drumming and 
rattling, and shouting a monotonous song, reminding 
one of a song of chimney sweeps of a city. The 
women, standing opposite to the men, advanced and 
retreated from the men, squeaking in an unearthly man 
ner, a sort of chorus. This is the chief dance, in which 
the women, engage. If a scalp is taken in summer, they 
dance until the falling of the leaves ; if in winter, until 
the leaves begin to appear. When the scalp is freshly 
painted, as it is four times, it is a great occasion. After 
their mad orgies, have ceased, they burn or bury it. An 
eagle's feather, with a red spot, in the head of some of 
those Indians walking through our settlements, is a badge 
that the possessor has killed a foe. If the feather is 



70 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

notched and bordered with red, or clipped and topped 
with red, it signifies that a throat has been cut. The 
red hand on a blanket, shows that the man has been 
wounded by an enemy ; but the black hand, that he has 
killed his enemy. The Dahkotahs, like other savages 
in war, show no sympathy for sex, infancy, or old age. 
At Pokeguma, the Kaposia band scalped two little girls 
that attended the mission school ; buried a tomahawk in 
their brains; severed the hands from the bodies ; and then 
set them up in the sand. Mr. Riggs narrates an inci- 
dent of some of the upper bands of Dahkotahs, pursuing 
a weak Ojibway mother. To save her life she swam a 
stream. Half naked she reached the opposite bank, and 
dropped down, too much exhausted to attempt to pro- 
ceed. With the delight of demons just let loose from 
hell, her pursuers came over, stabbed and scalped her. 
Prematurely, ushering her unborn babe into existence, 
they dashed its brains out, upon the ground. Returning 
with a poor, sick mother's scalp, they came home as 
" conquering heroes come," and were received with pride 
and honour. Such is savage warfare, and the savage idea 
of what constitutes true glory. But, notwithstanding 
their horrid mode of warfare, they are not destitute of 
affection for their own offspring or friends. 

The Dahkotahs assert that a mother is with her absent 
children whenever they think of her, and that she feels 
a pain in her breast (or heart) whenever anything of 
moment happens to them. When a child dies, like 
Rachel, they refuse to be comforted. The following 
paraphrase of the lament of a bereaved Indian mother, 
prepared for the " Dakota Friend," is full of poetry : ( * Me 
choonkshee! Me choonhshee ! (my daughter, my daughter,) 
alas ! alas ! My hope, my comfort has departed, my 



A MOTHER'S WAIL OVER HER INFANT. 71 

heart is very sad. My joy is turned into sorrow, and 
mv song into wailing. Shall I never behold thy sunny 
smile ? Shall I never more hear the music of thy voice ? 
The Great Spirit has entered my lodge in anger, and 
taken thee from me, my first born and only child. I 
am comfortless and must wail out my grief. The pale 
faces repress their sorrow, but we children of nature 
must give vent to ours or die. Me choonkshee ! me 
choonkshee ! 

" The light of my eyes is extinguished ; all, all is dark. 
I have cast from me all comfortable clothing, and robed 
myself in comfortless skins, for no clothing, no fire, can 
warm thee, my daughter. Unwashed and uncombed, I 
will mourn for thee, whose long locks I can never more 
braid ; and whose cheeks I can never again tinge with 
vermillion. I will cut off my dishevelled hair, for my 
grief is great, me choonkshee ! me choonkshee ! How 
can I survive thee ? How can I be happy, and you a 
homeless wanderer to the spirit land ? How can I eat 
if you are hungry ? I will go to the grave with food 
for your spirit. Your bowl and spoon are placed in 
your coffin for use on the journey. The feast for your 
playmates has been made at the place of interment. 
Knowest thou of their presence ? Me choonkshee ! me 
choonkshee ! 

" When spring returns, the choicest of ducks shall be 
your- portion. Sugar and berries also shall be placed 
near your grave. Neither grass nor flowers shall be 
allowed to grow thereon. Affection for thee will keep 
the little mound desolate, like the heart from which 
thou art torn. My daughter, I come, I come. I bring 
you parched corn. Oh, how long will you sleep ? The 
wintry winds wail your requiem. The cold earth is 



72 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

your bed, and the colder snow thy covering. I would 
that they were mine. I will lie down by thy side. I 
will sleep once more with you. If no one discovers me ? 
I shall soon be as cold as thou art, and together we will 
sleep that long, long sleep from which I cannot wake 
thee, Me choonkshee ! me choonkshee !" 

A Dahkotah obtains his wives (for they are polyga- 
mists) not by courtship, but by a practice as old as the 
book of Genesis, that of purchase. A young man, when 
he wants a wife, announces the fact, and begs his friends 
to give him an outfit. He then proceeds to the parents 
and makes a purchase. The ancestors of some of the 
first families of Virginia, purchased their wives from the 
London company, for one hundred and twenty or fifty 
pounds of tobacco, at three shillings a pound, but a 
Dahkotah pays a higher price for the article, and takes 
more. Usually they pay a horse, or four or five guns, 
or six or eight blankets, a value equal to thirty or forty 
dollars. 

The chief of the Kaposia band had three wives, who 
were sisters. His second wife he purchased of her father 
while he was drunk, and she but ten years of age. It 
is said that a friend throws a blanket over the bride and 
bears her to the lodge of the purchaser. Though a son- 
in-law lives near the parents of his wife, he never names 
or talks to them, and never looks his wife's mother in 
the face. He thinks it is respectful to act in this 
manner. He occupies a large lodge, while his wife's 
parents frequently live in a small one, in the rear, 
whom he supplies with game until he has a family of 
his own. Should the parents accidentally meet him, 
they hide their faces. If the mother starts for the 



THE WOODPECKER CHARM.— DRESS. 7a 

daughter's lodge and perceives her husband inside, she 
does not enter. 

If a woman proves faithless to her husband, she is- 
frequently shot or has her nose cut off. This latter 
practice was noticed by Le Sueur, in 1700. There is 
much system in relation to the place in which each 
should sit in a Dahkotah lodge. The wife always occu- 
pies a place next to the entrance on the right. The 
seat of honour, to which a white man is generally 
pointed, is directly opposite to the door of the lodge. 

Like the rest of mankind, they are by no means 
insensible to flattery. When one thinks that he cannot 
obtain a horse, or some other article that he wishes, 
by a simple request, he will take a number of wood- 
peckers' heads, and sing over them in the presence of 
the individual he hopes to influence, recounting the 
honourable deeds of the man to whom he gives the 
birds' heads. This process acts like a charm, and is 
often successful. 

A Parisian dandy is known the world over, but he is 
not to be compared with a Dahkotah fop. An Indian 
young man passes hours in attiring himself. That green 
streak of paint upon the cheek; those yellow circles 
around the eyes, and those spots upon the forehead, 
have cost him much trouble and frequent gazings into 
his mirror, which he always keeps with him. That 
head-dress, which appears to hang so carelessly, is all 
designed. None knows better than he how to attitudi- 
nize and play the stoic or majestic. No moustachioed 
clerk, with curling locks, and kid gloves, and cambric 
handkerchief, and patent-leather boots, and glossy hat, 
is half so conscious as he who struts past us with his 
streaming blanket and ornamented and uncovered head, 



74 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

holding a pipe or a gun in the place of a cane, and 
wearing moccasins in the place of boots. The rain 
upon his nicely decorated head and face, causes as 
much of a flutter as it does when it falls upon the hat 
of the nice young man who smokes his cigar and pro- 
menades in Broadway. 

When the Dahkotahs are not busy with war, or the 
chase, or the feasts and dances of their religion, time 
hangs heavily, and they either sleep or resort to some 
game to keep up an excitement. One of their games is 
like " Hunt the Slipper ;" a bullet or plum-stone is 
placed by one party in one of four moccasins or mittens, 
and sought for by the opposite. There is also the play 
of "plum-stones." At this game much is often lost 
and won. Eight plum-stones are marked with certain 
devices. This game is played by young men and 
females. If, after shaking in a bowl, stones bearing 
certain devices turn up, the game is won. 

The favourite and most exciting game of the Dahko- 
tahs is ball playing. It appears to be nothing more than 
a game which was often played by the writer in school- 
boy days, and which was called " shinny." A smooth 
place is chosen on the prairie or frozen river or lake. 
Each player has a stick three or four feet long and 
crooked at the lower end, with deer strings tied across 
forming a sort of a pocket. The ball is made of a 
rounded knot of wood, or clay covered with hide, and 
is supposed to possess supernatural qualities. Stakes 
are set at a distance of a quarter or half mile, as bounds. 
Two parties are then formed, and the ball being thrown 
up in the centre, the contest is for one party to carry the 
ball from the other beyond one of the bounds. Two or 
three hundred men are sometimes engaged at once. On 



FOOT RACING.— DOG AND FISH DANCES. 75 

a summer's day, to see them rushing to and fro, painted 
in divers colors, with no article of apparel, with feathers 
in their heads, bells around their wrists, and fox and 
wolf tails dangling behind, is a wild and noisy spectacle. 
The eye-witnesses among the Indians become more 
interested in the success of one or the other of the par- 
ties than any crowd at a horse race, and frequently 
stake their last piece of property on the issue of the 
game. 

On the 13th of July, 1852, the last great ball-play in 
the vicinity of Saint Paul took place. The ground 
selected was Oak Grove, in Hennepin county, and the 
parties were, Shokpay's band, against the Good Road, 
Sky Man, and Gray Iron bands. The game lasted 
several days ; about two hundred and fifty were parti- 
cipants, encompassed by a cloud of witnesses. About 
two thousand dollars' worth of property was won by 
Shokpay's band the first day. The second day they 
were the losers. On the third day Shokpay lost the 
first game, and the stake was renewed. Shokpay lost 
again; but while a new stake was being made up, a 
dispute arose between the parties concerning some of 
the property which had been won from Shokpay's band, 
but which they kept back. They broke up in a row, 
as they usually do. Gray Iron's band leaving the 
ground first, ostensibly for the reason above named, but 
really because Shokpay's band had just been reinforced 
by the arrival of a company from Little Crow's band. 
During the play four or five thousand dollars' worth of 
goods changed hands. 

Like the ancient Greeks, they also practise foot racing. 
Before proceeding to other topics, it is well to give a 
brief account of the dog dance and the fish dance. The 



76 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

first is seldom performed, and is said to be peculiar to 
this nation. A dog being thrown into the midst of the 
crowd of dancers, is speedily " tomahawked" by one of 
the sacred men. The liver is then extracted and cut 
into slices, after which it is hung upon a pole. Now 
the dancers hop around, their mouths apparently water- 
ing with the desire for a bite. After a time some one 
dances up to the pole and takes a mouthful of the raw 
liver. He is then succeeded by others, until the whole 
is devoured. If another dog is thrown into the circle, 
the same process is repeated. 

" Not long since a Dahkotah chief was sick, and the 
gods signified to him that if he would make a raw 
fish feast, he would live till young cranes' wings are 
grown. So he must make the feast or die. Fifteen or 
twenty others, who, like himself, were inspired by the 
cormorant, joined with him in the ceremonies of the 
feast, of which the chief was master. 

" After one or two days spent in ' vapour baths' and 
' armour feasts,' a tent is prepared, opening towards the 
east. The railing extending from the tent is composed of 
bushes. Within the enclosure each of those who are to 
participate in the feast has a bush set, in which is his 
nest. Early in the morning, on the day of the feast, 
the master informs two others where the fish are to be 
taken, and sends them forth to spear and bring them 
in, designating the kind and number to be taken. On 
this occasion two pike, each about one foot in length, 
were taken, and after having been painted with Vermil- 
lion and ornamented with red down about the mouth 
and along the back, were laid on soime branches in the 
enclosure, entire, as they were taken from the water. 
Near the fish were placed birch-bark dishes filled with 



CORMORANT DANCE. 77 

sweetened water. Their implements of war were sol- 
emnly exhibited in the tent, and the dancers, who were 
naked, except the belt, breech-cloth, and moccasins, and 
fantastically painted and adorned with down, red and 
white, being in readiness, the singers, of whom there are 
four ranks, commenced to sing, each rank in its turn. 
The singing was accompanied with the drum and rattle. 

" The cormorant dancers danced to the music, having 
a little season of rest as each rank of singers ended 
their chant, until the fourth rank struck the drum and 
made the welkin ring with their wild notes ; then, like 
starving beasts, they tore off pieces of the fish, scales, 
bones, entrails, and all, with their teeth, and swallowed 
it, at the same time drinking their sweetened water, 
till both the pike were consumed, except the heads and 
fins and large bones, the latter of which were deposited 
in the nests. Thus the feast ended, and the chief will 
of course live till the young cranes can fly. At the 
close of the ceremony, whatever of clothing is worn on 
the occasion is offered in sacrifice to the gods." 

Sufficient has been said to show that the Dahkotahs 
are Odd Fellows; but not the half has been told. 
Among the Ojibways there are totems, or family sym- 
bols, of the name of some ancestor, which is honoured 
as much as the coat of arms among the nobility of Eu- 
rope. If a man dies, his totem is marked upon his 
grave post with as much formality as the heraldic 
design of an English nobleman. It was this custom 
among the Algonquin Indians, that led the unscrupu- 
lous La Hontan to publish engravings of the fabulous 
coats of arms of the various savage nations of the north- 
west. That of the " Outchipoues" (Ojibways) is an 
eagle perched upon a rock, devouring the brain of an 



78 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

owl. That of the Sioux, or Dahkotahs, is a squirrel 
perched upon a citron or pumpkin, and gnawing its 
rind. While the Dahkotahs do not appear to have 
totems or family designs, like the Ojibways, yet, from 
time immemorial, secret clans, with secret signs, have 
existed among them. It is impossible to force any 
member of these clans to divulge any of their proceed- 
ings. Culbertson, who visited the Dahkotahs of the 
Missouri, at the request of the Smithsonian Institution, 
was struck with this peculiarity. His remarks, for the 
entire accuracy of which we do not vouch, are as fol- 
lows : — 

" The Sioux nation has no general council, but each 
tribe and band determines its own affairs. These bands 
have some ties of interest analogous to the ties of our 
secret societies. The ' Crow-Feather-in-Cap' band are 
pledged to protect each others' wives, and to refrain 
from violating them. If the wife of one of their num- 
ber is stolen by another of their number, she is returned, 
the band either paying the thief for returning the stolen 
property, or forcing him to do it, whether he will or 
not. ***** The ' Strong-Heart' band is 
pledged to protect each other in their horses. Should 
a ' Strong-Heart' from a distance steal some horses, and 
they be claimed by a brother ' Strong-Heart,' his fellows 
would tell him that he must give them up, or they 
would give the robbed man some of their own horses, 
regarding it as the greatest disgrace to themselves to 
allow him to go away on foot. And thus I suppose 
that all these bands have some common object that 
unites them together, and here we have the origin of 
this system of banding. In the absence of law, it 
takes the place of our system of justice." 



WANT OF CLEANLINESS. 79 

The heathen, in their manner of life, are essentially 
the same all over the world. They are all given up to 
uncleanness. As you walk through a small village, in 
a Christian land, you notice many appearances of thrift 
and neatness. The day-labourer has his lot fenced, and 
his rude cabin white-washed. The widow, dependent 
upon her own exertions, and alone in the world, finds 
pleasure in training the honeysuckle or the morning- 
glory to peep in at her windows. The poor seamstress, 
though obliged to lodge in some upper room, has a few 
flower-pots upon her window-sill, and perhaps a canary 
bird hung in a cage outside. But in an Indian village 
all is filth and litter. There are no fences around their 
bark huts. White-washing is a lost art if it was ever 
known. Worn-out moccasins, tattered blankets, old 
breech-cloths, and pieces of leggins are strewn in con- 
fusion all over the ground. Water, except in very warm 
weather, seldom touches their bodies, and the pores of 
their skins become filled with grease and the paint with 
which they daub themselves. Neither Monday, or any 
other day, is known as washing-day. Their cooking 
utensils are incrusted with dirt, and used for a variety of 
purposes. A few years ago, a band of Indians, with their 
dogs, ponies, women, and children, came on board of a 
steamboat on the Upper Mississippi, on which the 
writer was travelling. Their evening meal, consisting 
of beans and wild meat, was prepared on the lower 
deck, beneath the windows of the ladies' cabin. After 
they had used their fingers in the place of forks, and 
consumed the food which they had cooked in a dirty 
iron pan, one of the mothers, removing the blanket 
from one of her children, stood it up in the same pan, 
and then, dipping some water out of the river, began to 



$0 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

wash it from head to foot. The rest of the band looked 
on with Indian composure, and seemed to think that 
an iron stew-pan was just as good for washing babes as 
for cooking beans. Where there is so much dirt, of 
course vermin must abound. They are not much dis- 
tressed by the presence of those insects which are so 
nauseating to the civilized man. Being without shame, 
a common sight, of a summer's eve, is a woman or child 
with her head in another's lap, who is kindly killing 
the fleas and other vermin that are burrowing in the 
long, matted, and uncombed hair. 

The Dahkotahs have no regular time for eating. 
Dependent, as they are, upon hunting and fishing for 
subsistence, they vacillate from the proximity of star- 
vation to gluttony. It is considered uncourteous to 
refuse an invitation to a feast, and a single man will 
sometimes attend six or seven in a day, and eat intem- 
perately. Before they came in contact with the whites, 
they subsisted upon venison, buffalo, and dog meat. 
The latter animal has always been considered a deli- 
cacy by these epicures. In illustration of these remarks, 
I transcribe an extract from a journal of a missionary, 
who visited Lake Traverse in April, 1839 : — 

"Last evening, at dark, our Indians chiefly returned, 
having eaten to the full of buffalo and dog meat. I asked 
one how many times they were feasted. He said, ' Six r 
and if it had not become dark so soon, we should have 
been called three or four times more.' * * * This 
morning, ' Burning-Earth' (chief of the Sissetonwan 
Dahkotahs), came again to our encampment, and re- 
moving we accompanied him to his village at the south- 
western end of the lake. * * * In the afternoon, 
I visited the chief; found him just about to leave for 



IRREGULAR MODE OF LIFE. 81 

a do£ feast to which he had heen called. When he had 
received some papers of medicine I had for him, he left, 
saying. * The Sionx love dog meat as well as white 
people do pork.' " 

In this connection, it should be stated that the Dah- 
kotahs have no regular hours of retiring. Enter a New 
England village after nine o'clock, and all is still. Walk 
through Philadelphia after the State House clock has 
struck eleven, and evervbodv and thino;. hacks, hack- 
men. and those on foot, appear to be hastening to rest; 
the lamp in the store, the entry and parlour, is extin- 
guished, and lights begin to flicker hi the chambers and 
in the garrets, and soon all are quiet, except rogues and 
disorderly persons, and those who watch ; and you can 
hear the clock tick in the entry, and the watchman's 
slow step as he walks up and down the street. But 
there is nothing like this in an Indian village. They 
sleep whenever inclination prompts ; some by day and 
some by night. 

If you were to enter a Dahkotah village, at midnight, 
you might, perhaps, see some few huddled round the 
fire of a teepee, listening to the tale of an old warrior, 
who has often engaged in bloody conflict with their 
ancient and present enemies, the Ojibways; or you 
might hear the unearthly chanting of some medicine 
man, endeavouring to exorcise some spirit from a sick 
man ; or see some lounging about, whiffing out of their 
sacred red stone pipes, the smoke of kinnikinnick, a 
species of willow bark ; or some of the young men 
sneaking around a lodge, and waiting for the lodge-fire 
to cease to flicker before they perpetrate some deed of 
sin : or you might hear a low, wild drumming, and then 
a group of men, all naked, with the exception of a 



82 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

girdle round the loins, daubed with vermillion and 
other paints, all excited, and engaged in some of their 
grotesque dances ; or a portion may be firing their guns 
into the air, being alarmed by some imaginary evil, and 
supposing that an enemy is lurking around. 



CHAPTER III. 



Dahkotah females deserve the sympathy of every 
tender heart. From early childhood they lead " worse 
than a dog's life." Like the Gibeonites of old, they are 
the hewers of wood, and the drawers of water for the 
camp. On a winter's day, a Dahkotah mother is often 
obliged to travel five or eight or ten miles with the 
lodge, camp-kettle, axe, child, and small dogs upon her 
back. Arriving late in the afternoon at the appointed 
camping-ground, she clears off the snow from the spot 
upon which she is to erect the teepee. She then, from 
the nearest marsh or grove, cuts down some poles about 
ten feet in length. With these she forms a frame work 
for the tent. Unstrapping her pack, she unfolds the 
tent-cover, which is seven or eight buffalo skins stitched 
together, and brings the bottom part to the base of the 
frame. She now obtains a long pole, and fastening it 
to the skin covering, she raises it. The ends are drawn 
around the frame until they meet, and the edges of the 
covering are secured by wooden skewers or tent pins. 
The poles are then spread out on the ground, so as to 
make as large a circle inside as she desires. Then she, 



THE HARDSHIPS OF DAHKOTAH FEMALES. S3 

or her children, proceed to draw the skins down so as to 
make them fit tightly. An opening is left where the 
poles meet at the top, to allow the smoke to escape. 
The fire is built upon the ground in the centre of the 
lodge. Buffalo skins are placed around, and from seven 
to fifteen lodge there through a winter's night, with far 
more comfort than a child of luxury upon a bed of 
down. Water is to be drawn and wood cut for the 
night. The camp-kettle is suspended, and preparations 
made for the evening meal. If her lord and master has 
not by this time arrived from the day's hunt, she is 
busied in mending up moccasins. Such is a scene which 
has been enacted by hundreds of females this very winter 
in Minnesota. How few of the gentle sex properly ap- 
preciate the everlasting obligations they are under to 
the Son of Mary, after the flesh, who was the first that 
taught the true sphere and the true mission of woman ! 
The Dahkotah wife is subject to all of the whims of 
her husband, and woe unto her when he is in bad 
humour ! As a consequence, the females of this nation 
are not possessed of very happy faces, and frequently 
resort to suicide to put an end to earthly troubles 
Uncultivated, and made to do the labour of beasts, when 
they are desperate, they act more like infuriated brutes 
than creatures of reason. Some years ago a lodge was 
pitched at the mouth of the St. Croix. The wife, fear- 
ing her husband would demand the whiskey keg, when 
he came from hunting, hid it. Upon his return, she 
refused to tell him where it was, and he flogged her. 
In her rage, she went off and hung herself. At Oak 
Grove, a little girl, the pet of her grandmother, was 
whipped by her father. The old woman, sympathizing 
with the child, flew into a passion and went off. At 



84 ' HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

last, the screaming of the grandchild was heard, for she 
had discovered her " grandma' " hanging by a portage 
collar from a burial scaffold. An assistant female 
teacher in the mission school, being attracted by the 
noise, went and cut the " old granny" down before life 
had fled. On another occasion, at the same place, a 
son-in-law refused to give his mother some whiskey, and 
in a rage she went on to the burial scaffold, tied the 
portage strap around her neck, and was about to jump 
off, when Mr. Pond came up to her and cut the strap. 
Still she did not relinquish her intention of suicide. At 
last, he climbed on to the scaffold and told her he would 
stay there as long as she. Other females from the 
village then came out, and succeeded in persuading her 
to live a little while longer. In this connexion, an 
incident may be told, which, for romantic interest, can- 
not be surpassed. The girl, since the occurrence, which 
we substantially narrate as we find it in the " Pioneer," 
without being responsible for every particular, be- 
came a pupil in the Rev. Mr. Hancock's mission school 
at Remnica or Red Wing Village. 

In the spring of 1850, a young girl, fourteen years of 
age, shot another girl with whom she was quarrelling. 
The deceased was a daughter of a sullen man by the 
name of Black Whistle. The affrighted girl, after she 
fired the gun, fled to the trader's house, and was by him 
aided to make her escape down to Wapashaw's village. 
While stopping at Red Wing's village, some hundred 
miles from the place where the deed was committed, the 
incensed father overtook her. His first plan was to 
carry her home and sacrifice her at his daughter's burial 
scaffold; but, through the influence of some of the 
whites, he changed his plan, and resolved to make her 



THE DISGUISED GIRL.— WANT OF LAW. 85 

his slave or his wife. For some time she endured what 
to her was a living death, but on one night she suddenly 
disappeared. Not many days after, there appeared at 
Good Road's village, a young Indian boy, stating that 
he was a Sisseton, and had just arrived from the plains 
He was well received, no one dreaming that he was the 
Indian maid. While in this disguise, she went out one 
day to spear fish, when her husband and enemy, the 
revengeful father of the girl she had shot, met her, and 
inquired for her, and avowed his intention to kill her. 
She very coolly assented to the justice of what he said, 
and left. At last, her real sex being suspected, she 
came down to Little Crow or Kaposia village. Here 
she passed herself off as a Winnebago orphan, which 
disguise succeeded for a time. But soon she was sus- 
pected, and was again obliged to seek safety in flight, 
and at last took up her residence at Red Wing's village, 
though for a long time no one knew what had become 
of her. 

It is an erroneous idea that chiefs have any authority. 
Popularity is the source of power, and they resort to 
measures which vie with those of the modern dema- 
gogue, to gain the ear of the people. They never 
express an opinion on any important point, until they 
have canvassed the band over which they preside, and 
their opinions are always those of the majority. 

The Dahkotahs suffer much for want of law. The 
individual who desires to improve his condition is not 
only laughed at, but maltreated. Moreover, if he ac- 
quires any property, there is no law which secures it to 
him, and it is liable to be taken away at any time by 
any ill-disposed person. Until this state of things is 
altered by the interposition of the United States govern 



SQ HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

ment, or the interposition of Providence in some unfore- 
seen way, there is little hope of elevating this tribe. 
Their missionary will be forced to look upon this degra- 
dation, and say, in view thereof, " My whole head is 
sick, my whole heart faint." 

The superstitions and peculiarities of the Dahkotahs 
are so various that we can but barely glance at them. 
They count years by winters, and compute distances by 
the number of nights passed upon a journey; their 
months are computed by moons, and are as follows : — 

1. Wi-teri, January ; the hard moon. 

2. Wicata-wi, February ; the raccoon moon. 

3. Istawicayazan-wi, March; the sore-eye moon. 

4. Magaokadi-wi, April; the moon in which the 
geese lay eggs : also called Wokada-wi ; and, sometimes, 
Watopapi-wi, the moon when the streams are again 
navigable. 

5. Wojupi-wi, May ; the planting moon. 

6. Wajustecasa-wi, June; the moon when the straw- 
berries are red. 

7. Canpasapa-wi, and Wasunpa-wi, July ; the moon 
when the choke-cherries are ripe, and when the geese 
shed their feathers. 

8. Wasuton-wi, August; the harvest moon. 

9. Psinhnaketu-wi, Sejitember ; the moon when rice 
is laid up to dry. 

10. Wi-wajupi, October; the drying rice moon; some- 
times written Wazupi-wi. 

11. Takiyura-wi, November; the deer-rutting moon. 

12. Tahecapsun-wi, December; the moon when the 
deer shed their horns. 

They believe that the moon is made of something as 
good as green-cheese. The popular notion is that when 



RELIGIOUS RITES AND SUPERSTITIONS 87 

the moon is full, a great number of very small mice 
commence nibbling until they have eaten it up. A new 
moon then begins to grow until it is full, then it is 
devoured. 

Though almost every Dahkotah young man has his 
pocket mirror, a maid does not look at a looking-glass, 
for it is " wakan" or sacred. Almost everything that 
the man owns is wakan or sacred, but nothing that the 
woman possesses is so esteemed. If one has a toothache, 
it is supposed to be caused by a woodpecker concealed 
within, or the gnawing of a worm. Coughs are occa- 
sioned by the sacred men operating through the medium 
of the down of the goose, or the hair of the buffalo. It 
is considered a sin to cut a stick that has once been 
placed on the fire, or to prick a piece of meat with an 
awl or needle. It is wrong for a woman to smoke 
through a black pipe-stem, and for a man to wear a 
woman's moccasins. It is also sinful to throw gun- 
powder on the fire. 

This tribe of Indians believe that an individual has 
several souls. Le Sueur said that they thought that 
they had three souls, but the sacred men say that a 
Dahkotah has four souls. At death one of these re- 
mains with or near the body ; one in a bundle contain- 
ing some of the clothes and hair of the deceased, which 
the relatives preserve until they have an opportunity 
to throw them into the enemy's country ; one goes into 
the spirit land ; and one passes into the body of a child 
or some animal. 

They have a fear of the future, but no fixed belief in 
relation to the nature of future punishment. They are 
generally taciturn on such topics. The more simple- 
minded believe that a happy land exists across a lake 



88 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

of boiling water, and that an old woman sits on the 
shore holding a long narrow pole, that stretches across 
the water to the earth. Warriors who can show marks 
of wounds on their flesh, can walk the pole with 
security ; also infants, whose blue veins are a passport 
as good as war marks. Others slip into the boiling 
water. 

Their theology makes no difference between the con- 
dition of the thief and liar and the correct and good 
man. Those who commit suicide are thought to be 
unhappy. They believe that a woman who commits 
suicide will have to drag through another world that 
from which she hung herself in this, and that she will 
often break down the corn in another land by the pole 
or tree which dangles at her feet, and for this will be 
severely beaten by the inhabitants of the spirit land. 

When any one dies, the nearest friend is very anxious 
to go and kill an enemy. A father lost a child while 
the treaty of 1851 was pending at Mendota, and he 
longed to go and kill an Ojibway. As soon as an indi- 
vidual dies, the corpse is wrapped in its best clothes. 
Some one acquainted with the deceased then harangues 
the spirit on the virtues of the departed ; and the friends 
sit around with their faces smeared with a black pig- 
ment, the signs of mourning. Their lamentations are 
very loud, and they cut their thighs and legs with 
their finger nails or pieces of stone, to give free vent, as 
it would appear, to their grief. The corpse is not 
buried, but placed in a box upon a scaffold some eight 
or ten feet from the ground. Hung around the scaffold 
are such things as would please the spirit if it was still 
in the flesh — such as the scalp of an enemy or pots of 
food. After the corpse has been exposed lor some 



SCHILLER'S POEM.— BULWER, HERSCHELL. 



89* 



months, and the bones only remain, they are buried in 
a heap, and protected from the wolves by stakes. 

On the bluff, above the dilapidated cave which forms 
the eastern limit of Saint Paul, there is an ancient 
burial place. Here the Dahkotahs formerly brought 
their dead,' and performed solemn services. 

Carver, in his Travels, publishes the alleged speech 
over the remains of a Dahkotah brave — the reading of 
which so attracted the attention of the great German 
poet, Schiller, that he composed a poem called the 
" Song of a Nadowessee Chief." Goethe considered it 
one of his best, " and wished he had made a dozen 
such." 

Sir John Herschell and Sir E. L. Bulwer have each 
attempted a translation, both of which seem to convey 
the spirit of the original. 



SIR E. L. BULWER'S. 



SIR JOHN HERSCHELI/S. 



See on his mat — as if of yore, 

All life-like sits he here! 
With that same aspect which he wore 

When light to him was dear. 

But where the right hand's strength ? and where 
The breath that loved to breathe, 

To the Great Spirit aloft in air, 
The peace-pipe's lusty wreath ? 

And where the hawk-like eye, alas ! 

That wont the deer pursue. 
Hong the waves of rippling grass, 

Or fields that phone with dew ? 



See, where upon the mat, he sits 

Erect, before his door, 
With just the same majestic air 

That once in life he wore. 

But where is fled his strength of limb, 
The whirlwind of his breath, 

To the Great Spirit, when he sent 
The peace-pipe's mounting wreath? 

Where are those falcon eyes, which late 
Along the plain could trace, 

Along the grass's dewy wave, 
The reindeer's printed pace? 



Are these the limber, bounding feet 
That swept the winter's snows? 

What stateliest stag so fast and fleet? 
Their speed outstripped the roe's ! 

These arms, that then the steady bow 
Could supple from its pride, 

How stark and helpless hang they now 
Adown the stiffened side ! 



Those legs, which once, with matchless speed, 

Flew through the drifted snow, 
Surpassed the stag's unwearied course, 

Outran the mountain roe? 

Those arms, once used with might and main, 

The stubborn bow to twang? 
See, see, their nerves are slack at last, 

All motionless they hang. 



90 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



SIR E. L. BULWERS. 

Yet weal to him — at peace he stays 

Where never fall the snows: 
Where o'er the meadows springs the maize 

That mortal never sows. 

Where birds are blithe on every brake — 
Where forests teem with deer — 

Where glide the fish through every lake — 
One chase from year to year ! 

With spirits now he feasts above ; 

All left us — to revere 
The deeds we honour with our love, 

The dust we bury here. 

Here bring the last gift! loud and shrill 
Wail, death dirge for the brave! 

What pleased him most in life may still 
Give pleasure in the grave. 

We lay the axe beneath his head 
He swung when strength was strong— 

The bear on which his banquets fed — 
The way from earth is long! 

And here, new sharped, place the knife 

That severed from the clay, 
From which the axe had spoiled the life, 

The conquered scalp away ! 

The paints that deck the dead bestow — 
Yes, place them in his hand — 

That red the kingly shade may glow 
Amid the spirit-land. 



SIR JOHN HERSCHELL'S. 

'Tis well with him, for he is gone 

Where snow no more is found, 
Where the gay thorn's perpetual bloom 

Decks all the field around; 

Where wild birds sing from every spray, 

Where deer come sweeping by, 
Where fish from every lake, afford 

A plentiful supply. 

With spirits now he feasts above, 

And leaves us here alone, 
To celebrate his valiant deeds, 

And round his grave to moan. 

Sound the death-song, bring forth the gifts, 

The last gifts of the dead,— 
Let all which yet may yield him joy 

Within his grave be laid. 

The hatchet place beneath his head, 

Still red with hostile blood ; 
And add, because the way is long, 

The bear's fat limbs for food. 

The scalpingknife beside him lay, 

With paints of gorgeous dye, 
That in the land of souls his form 

May shine triumphantly. 



The legends of the Dahkotahs are numerous, and 
while many are puerile, a few are beautiful. 

Eagle-Eye, the son of a great war prophet, who lived 
more than one hundred years ago, was distinguished for 
bravery. Fleet, athletic, symmetrical, a bitter foe and 
warm friend, he was a model Dahkotah. In the ardour 
of his youth, his affections were given to one who was 
also attractive, named Scarlet Dove. 

- A few moons after she had become an inmate of his 
lodge, they descended the Mississippi, with a hunting 
party, and proceeded east of Lake Pepin. 



SCARLET DOVE.— AXPETUSAPA. 91 

One day. while Eagle-Eye was hid behind some 
bushes, watching for deer, the arrow of a comrade 
found its way through the covert, into his heart. AVith 
only time to lisp the name Scarlet Dove, he expired. 

For a few days the widow mourned and cut her flesh, 
and then, with the silence of woe. wrapping her beloved 
in skins, she placed him on a temporary burial scaffold, 
and sat beneath. 

When the hunting party moved, she carried on her 
own back the dead body of Eagle-Eye. At every en 
campment she laid the body up in the manner already 
mentioned, and sat down to watch it and mourn. 

When she had reached the Minnesota river, a dis- 
tance of more than a hundred miles, Scarlet Dove 
brought forks and poles from the woods, and erected a 
permanent scaffold on that beautiful hill opposite the 
site, of Fort Snelling, in the rear of the little town of 
Mendota, which is known by the name of Pilot Knob. 
Having adjusted the remains of the unfortunate object 
of her love upon this elevation, with the strap by which 
she had carried her precious burden, Scarlet Dove hung 
herself to the scaffold and died. Her highest hope was 
to meet the beloved spirit of her Eagle-Eye, in the world 
of spirits. 1 

Many years before the eye of the white man gazed 
on the beautiful landscape around the Falls of Saint 
Anthony, a scene was enacted there of which this is the 
melancholy story : — 

Anpetusapa was the first love of a Dahkotah hunter. 
For a period they dwelt in happiness, and she proved 
herself a true wife. 

1 For this legend we are indebted to Rev. G. H. Pond. 



92 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

"With knife of bone she carved her food, 
Fuel, with axe of stone procured — 
Could fire extract, from flint or -wood ; 
To rudest savage life inured. 

"In kettle frail of birchen bark, 

She boiled her food with heated stones ; 
The slippery fish from coverts dark 
She drew with hooked bones." 



But her heart was at length clouded. The husband, 
in accordance with the custom of his nation, introduced 
a second wife within the teepee, and the first wife's eyes 
began to grow sad, and her form from day to day 
drooped. Her chief joy was to clasp the little boy, 
who was the embodiment of hopes and happiness fled 
for ever. Faithful and unmurmuring, she followed her 
husband on his hunts. One day the band encamped on 
the picturesque shores near the Falls of Saint Anthony. 
With tearless eye, and nerved by despair, the first wife, 
with her little son, walked to the rapid waters'. Enter- 
ing a canoe, she pushed into the swift current, and the 
chanting of her death dirge arrested the attention of 
her husband and the camp in time to see the canoe on 
the bank, and plunge into the dashing waves. The 
Dahkotahs say, that in the mist of the morning, the 
spirit of an Indian wife, with a child clinging around 
her neck, is seen darting in a canoe through the spray, 
and that the sound of her death-song is heard moaning 
in the winds, and in the roar of the waters. 

On the eastern shore of Lake Pepin, about twelve 
miles from its mouth, there stands a bluff which attracts 
attention by its boldness. It is about four hundred and 
fifty feet in height, the last hundred of which is a bald, 
precipitous crag. It is seen at a distance of miles ; and 



MAIDEN'S ROCK OF THE DAHKOTAHS. 93 

as the steamer approaches, the emergence of passengers 
to the upper deck, and the pointing of the finger of the 
captain, or some one familiar with the country, evince* 
that it is an interesting locality — it is the Maiden's 
Kock of the Dahkotahs. 

The first version of the story, in connection with this 
bluff, differs from those more modern, but is preferable. 

In the days of the great chief Wapashaw, there lived 
at the village of Keoxa, which stood on the site of the 
town which now bears her name, a maiden with a lov- 
ing soul. She was the first-born daughter, and, as is 
always the case in a Dahkotah family, she bore the 
name of Weenonah. A young hunter of the same band, 
was never happier than when he played the flute in her 
hearing. Having thus signified his affection, it was 
with the whole heart reciprocated. The youth begged 
from his friends all that he could, and went to her 
parents, as is the custom, to purchase her for his wife, 
but his proposals were rejected. 

A warrior, who had often been on the war path, 
whose head-dress plainly told the number of scalps he 
had wrenched from Ojibway heads, had also been to the 
parents, and they thought that she would be more 
honoured as an inmate of his teepee. 

Weenonah, however, could not forget her first love ; 
and, though he had been forced away, his absence 
strengthened her affections. Neither the attentions of 
the warrior, nor the threats of parents, nor the persua- 
sions of friends, could make her consent to marry simply 
for position. 

One day the band came to Lake Pepin to fish or 
hunt. The dark green foliage, the velvet sward, the 
beautiful expanse of water, the shady nooks, made it a 



94 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

place to utter the breathings of love. The warrior 
sought her once more, and begged her to accede to her 
parents' wish, and become his wife, but she refused with 
decision. 

While the party were feasting, Weenonah clambered 
to the lofty bluff, and then told to those who were 
below, how crushed she had been by the absence of the 
young hunter, and the cruelty of her friends. Then 
chanting a wild death-song, before the fleetest runner 
could reach the height, she dashed herself down, and 
that form of beauty was in a moment a mass of broken 
limbs and bruised flesh. 

The Dahkotah, as he passes the rock, feels that the 
spot is Wawkawn. 

The Dahkotahs call the St. Croix river, Hogan- 
wanke-kin. The legend is that in the distant past, 
two Dahkotah warriors were travelling on the shores of 
Lake St. Croix, one of whom was under a vow to one 
of his gods not to eat any flesh which had touched 
water. Gnawed by hunger, the two perceived, as they 
supposed, a raccoon, and pursued it to a hollow tree. 
On looking in, the one who could not eat flesh that had 
touched water, saw that the animal was a fish and not 
a quadruped. Turning to his companion, he agreed to 
throw it to the ground if he was not urged to eat. 
Hunger, however, was imperious, and forced him to 
break his vow and partake of the broiled fish. 

After the meal, thirst usurped the place of hunger. 
He called for water to cool his parched tongue, until 
the strength of his companion failed, and he was then 
told to lie down by the lake and drink till his thirst 
was quenched. Complying with the advice, he drank 
and drank, till at last he cried to his friend, " come and 



LANGUAGE AND LEXICON. 95 

look at me." The sight caused the knees of his comrade 
to smite together with fear, for he was fast turning to a 
fish. At length, he stretched himself across the Lake, 
and formed what is called Pike Bar. This, tradition 
says, is the origin of the sand-bar in the Lake, which is 
so conspicuous at low stage of water. 

Having full faith in the legend, to this day they call 
the river, which is part of the boundary between Wis- 
consin and Minnesota, "the place where the fish 
lies." (Hogan-wanke-kin.) 

The Dahkotahs, from the Minnesota to the plains 
beyond the Missouri, speak essentially the same lan- 
guage. Though difficult to acquire, it is allied to that 
of the Ottoes, Winnebagoes, Toways, and Omahaws. 1 

After ten years' close study by an observing mis- 
sionary, he was obliged to confess that he had not 
mastered it, which admission forms quite a contrast 
to the vaunting statement of Jonathan Carver, who 
wintered in Minnesota in 1767. He remarks: "To 
render my stay as comfortable as possible, I first endea- 
voured to learn their language. This I soon did, to 
make myself perfectly intelligible." 

Hennepin made the first effort to collect a vocabulary 
of the language, while he was a captive on Rum river, 
or Mille Lacs. His description of the attempt is very 
quaint : " Hunger pressed me to commence the forma- 
tion of a vocabulary of their language, learned from 

1 The ancient Arkansas seem to (Minne ska) or White Water." 

have belonged to the Dahkotah Again : " They place the hand upon 

family. A letter published in Kip's the mouth, which is a sign of admi- 

Jesuit Mission, written by a mis- ration among them." Ouakan tague 

sionary at the mouth of the Arkan- they cry out, " it is the Great Spirit." 

sas, in October, 1727, speaks of " a They said probably, Wakan de, This 

river which the Indians call Ni ska is wonderful. 



~96 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the prattle of their children. When once I had learned 
the word Taketchiabein, which means ' How call you 
this?' I began to be soon able to talk of such things 
as are most familiar. For want of an interpreter this 
difficulty was hard to surmount at first. For example, 
if I had a desire to. know what to run was in their 
tongue, I was forced to increase my speed, and actually 
run from one end of the lodge to the other, until they 
understood what I meant and had told me the word, 
which I presently set down in my Dictionary." 

The first printed vocabulary is that appended to 
Carver's Travels, which is exceedingly incorrect, though 
it contains many Dahkotah words. The Smithsonian 
Institution have published, under the patronage of the 
Historical Society of Minnesota, a quarto Grammar and 
Dictionary of this language, which will be gazed upon 
with interest by the " wise men of the East" long after 
the Dahkotah dialect has ceased to be spoken. This 
work is the fruit of eighteen years of anxious toil 
among this people, and is the combined work of the 
members of the Dahkotah Presbytery, edited by the 
Rev. S. R. Riggs, of Lac qui Parle ; and should be pre- 
served in the library of every professional man and 
lover of letters in Minnesota. 

The vocabulary is, of course, meagre, compared with 
that of the civilized European ; for living, as they have 
until of late, far away from any but those of like habits 
and modes of thought, they are defective in many words 
which have their place in the dictionary of a Christian 
people. Accustomed to cut poles from a forest and 
spread buffalo skins thereon, under which they pass the 
night, and then decamp early the next day in quest of 
game or the scalp of an enemy, they have no word which 



DAHKOTAH ALPHABET. 



97 



expresses the comfortable idea of our noble Saxon word 
" home." Still, in the language of a missionary, " it is 
in some of its aspects to be regarded as a noble lan- 
guage, fully adequate to all the felt wants of a nation, 
and capable of being enlarged, cultivated, and enriched, 
by the introduction of foreign stores of thought. Nothing 
can be found anywhere more full and flexible than the 
Dahkotah verb. The affixes, and reduplications, and 
pronouns, and prepositions, all come in to make it of 
such a stately pile of thought as is to my knowledge 
found nowhere else. A single paradigm presents more 
than a thousand variations." 







THE DAHKOTAH ALPHABET. 




NAME 








NAME. 






A ah, 


sounds 


as a 


in far. 


o, 


sounds as o 


in go. 


B be, 


«< 


b 


in but. 


P pe, 


". P 


in pea. 


C che 


«« 


ch 


in cheat. 


Q qe, 


indescribable. 




D de, 


<« 


d 


in deed. 


R re, 


high guttural. 




E a, 


a 


a 


in say. 


S se, 


sounds as s 


in sea. 


ge, 


low guttural. 




T te, 


t 


in tea. 


H he, 


sounds 


as h 


in he. 


U oo. 


" oo in noon. 


I e, 


" 


e 


iu see. 


W we, 


10 


in we. 


J je, 


" 


si 


in hosier. 


X she 


sh 


in sheet. 


K ke, 


" 


k 


in key. 


Y ye, 


y 


in yeaai. 


M me, 


(i 


m 


in me. 


Z ze, 


z 


in zeta. 


N ne, 


" 


n 


in neat. 









The vowels represent each but one sound. G repre- 
sents a low guttural or gurgling sound. R represents 
a rough hawking sound, higher than that of g. Besides 
their simple sounds, c, Jc, p, s, t, and x, have each a close 
compound sound, which cannot be learned except from 
a living teacher. They are printed in italics when they 
represent these sounds, except Jc, which is never italicised 
for this purpose ; but q is used instead of it. The last- 



98 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

named letter might as well, perhaps, be expunged from 
the Dahkotah alphabet, and k held responsible for the 
performance of this service. When n follows a vowel 
at the end of a syllable, except in contracted words, 
with very few exceptions, it is not full, but sounds like 
n in tinkle, ankle. 

It was intended that the Dahkotah orthography should 
be strictly phonetic, and it fails but little of being so. To 
learn the names of the letters is to learn to read it, and 
no English scholar need spend more than a few hours, 
or even a few moments, in learning to read the Dahko- 
tah language. 1 

1 G. H. Pond, in " Tawaxitku Kin." 



CARTIER.— CHAMPLAIN. 99 



CHAPTER IV. 

More than three centuries ago, an enterprising nav r al 
officer, Jacques Cartier, discovered the mouth of the 
great river of North America, that empties into the 
Atlantic, and whose extreme head waters are in the 
interior of Minnesota, within an hour's w r alk of a tribu- 
tary of the Mississippi. 

Having erected, in the vicinity of Quebec, a rude fort, 
in 1541, more than a half century before the settlement 
of Jamestown, in Virginia, from that time the river 
Saint Lawrence became known to the bold mariners of 
France, and there was an increasing desire to explore 
its sources. 

In the year 1608, Champlain selected the site in the 
vicinity of Cartier's post as the future capital of New 
France. Burning to plant a colony in the New World, 
he, with great assiduity, explored the country. In 1609 
he ascended a tributary of the Saint Lawrence, till he 
came to the beautiful lake in New York, which, to this 
day, bears his name. 

After several visits to France, in 1615 he is found, 
with unabated zeal, accompanying a band of savages 
to their distant hunting-grounds, and disco vering the 
waters of Lake Huron. 



100 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Before the emigrants of the " May Flower" trod on 
New England soil, and while Massachusetts was an 
unknown country to the geographers of Europe, he had 
gained an inkling of the Mediterranean of America, Lake 
Superior. In a map accompanying the journal of his dis- 
coveries, this lake appears as " Grand Lac," and a great 
river is marked flowing from the lake toward the south, 
intended to represent the Mississippi, as described by 
the Indians, who, from the earliest period, had been 
accustomed, by slight portages, to pass from the waters 
of Lake Superior into those of the " grand" river which 
flows into the Gulf of Mexico. 

About the time that Champlain returned from his 
expedition to the Huron country, there arrived in 
Canada a youth from France of more than ordinary 
promise, who, by his aptness in the acquisition of the 
Indian dialects, became interpreter and commissary of 
the colony. 

Determined to press beyond others, he, in 1639, 
arrived at the lake of the Winnebagoes, in the present 
state of Wisconsin, which had been described by Cham- 
plain, though erroneously located on the map accom- 
panying his narrative. 

While in this region he concluded a friendly alliance 
with the Indians in the valley of the Fox river. 

Paul le Jeune, in a letter to his superior, Vimont, 
written in the month of September, 1640, alludes to 
Nicolet, and is also the first writer who makes distinct 
mention of the Dahkotahs. Speaking of the tribes on 
Lake Michigan, the father remarks : — 

" Still further on, dwell the Ouinipegou (Winnebago), 
a sedentary people and very numerous. Some French- 
men call them the ' Nation of Stinkers,' because the 



TRADERS PIONEERS FOR THE TRIESTS. 101 

Algonquin word Ouinipeg signifies stinking water. They 
thus designate the water of the sea, and these people 
call themselves Ouinipegou, because they come from 
the shores of a sea, of which we have no knowledge, 
and therefore we must not call them the nation of 
1 Stinkers/ but the nation of the sea. 

" In the neighbourhood of this nation are the Nadou- 
essi (Dahkotahs), and the Assinipouars (Assiniboines). 
* * * * * I will say, by the way, that the Sieur 
Nicolet, interpreter of the Algonquin and Huron lan- 
guages for : Messieurs de la Nouvelle France,' has given 
me the names of these nations, whom he has visited, 
for the most part, in their own countries." 

Two years elapse, and, in 1641, Jogues and Raym- 
bault, of the u Society of Jesus," after a journey of 
seventeen days, in frail barks, over tempestuous waters, 
arrive at the barrier of rocks at the entrance of Lake 
Superior : and then, at Sault St. Marie, met the Potto- 
wattomies flying from the Dahkotahs, and were told 
that the latter lived to the west of the Falls, about 
eighteen days' journey, the first nine across the lake, 
the other up a river which leads inland, referring, pro- 
bably, to the stream which interlocks with the head 
waters of the river Saint Croix. 

We would not detract from the zeal of the man of 
God, but it is a fact that those in the service of mam- 
mon have ever outrun those in the service of Christ. 
The - insacra fames auri." the unholy thirst for gold, 
has always made the trader the pioneer of the mis- 
sionary in savage lands. 

In a communication made as early as 1654. it was 
stated that it was only nine days' journey from the 
Lake of the Winnebago (Green Bay) to the sea that 



102 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

separates America from China; and, that, if a person 
could be found who would send thirty Frenchmen into 
that country, they would obtain the finest peltries and 
amass wealth. 

This year two adventurous Frenchmen went to seek 
their fortunes in the region west of Lake Michigan; 
and, in August, 1656, with a flotilla of canoes, laden 
with treasures, and two hundred and fifty Ojibways, 
they arrived at Quebec, and interested "voyageurs" 
with a recital of their hair-breadth escapes — merchants 
with their packs of valuable furs, and ecclesiastics with 
narrations of the miserable condition of immortal souls, 
and of the numerous villages of the " Nadouesiouack" 
(Dahkotahs) and other tribes. 

Thirty young Frenchmen, excited by the reports, 
equipped themselves to trade with the lodges in the 
distant wilderness ; and, two Fathers, Leonard Garreau 
and Gabriel Dreuilletes, were summoned by their Supe- 
rior to return with the brigade, and were rejoiced to 
find themselves chosen to be the first to carry the name 
of Jesus Christ into a country alike replete with tribu- 
lation, darkness, and death. 

The latter missionary had been a visiter to the house 
of the Puritan minister, Eliot, in the vicinity of Boston, 
and they had frequently taken sweet counsel together in 
relation to the amelioration of the condition of the abo- 
rigines. 

This expedition failed to reach its destination, owing 
to a murderous attack of the Iroquois, in which Gar- 
reau was killed, and the Ojibways so alarmed that they 
refused to receive the surviving " black robe." 

In the year 1659 two traders travelled extensively 
among the distant tribes. Six days' journey south-west 



GROSELLIER'S JOURNEY TO HUDSON BAY, BY LAND. 103 

of La Pointe, in Black River Valley, they found vil- 
lages of Hurons, who, retreating across rocky ridges, 
over deep streams, wide lakes, and dense thickets, had 
reached the shores of the Mississippi, and found a shelter 
among the Dahkotahs from the fierce onslaught of the 
Iroquois. In the vicinity of the Hurons they saw Dah- 
kotah settlements, "in five of which were counted all 
of five thousand men." They noticed women with the 
tips of their noses cut off, and heads partly scalped, and 
were informed that this was the penalty inflicted upon 
adulteresses. 

They also heard of" another warlike nation who, with 
their bows and arrows, have rendered themselves as 
formidable to the upper Algonquins as the Iroquois have 
to the lower. They bear the name of Poualak (Assine- 
boine), that is to say, the warriors." Continues the rela- 
tion : — " As wood is scarce and very small with them, 
nature has taught them to burn stones in place of it, 
and to cover their wigwams with skins. Some of the 
most industrious among them have built mud cabins 
nearly in the same manner that swallows build their 
nests ; nor would they sleep less sweetly beneath these 
skins, or under this clay, than the great ones of earth 
beneath their golden canopies, was it not for the fear of 
the Iroquois, who come here in search of them from a 
distance of five or six hundred leagues." 

On the early French maps of Lake Superior, a tribu- 
tary from Minnesota is called the River Grosellier. 1 It 



1 Grosellier was a native of Tou- Quebec. Returning by Lake Supe- 

raine, and married Helen, daughter rior, he offered to carry French ships 

of Abraham Martin, King's Pilot, to Hudson's Bay. Rejected by the 

who has left his name to the cele- court, he crossed over to England, 

brated plains of Abraham, near where his offers were accepted. With 



104 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

appears to have been named after a French pilot who, 
about this time, roamed into the Assiniboine country, in 
the region of Lake Winnepeg, and was conducted by 
them to the shores of Hudson's Bay. 

During the summer of 1^60 the traders of the far 
West returned to Quebec with sixty canoes, manned by 
Algonquins, and laden with fox, beaver, and buffalo skins. 
The narrative of these men increased the existing enthu- 
siasm of the Jesuits, and the Superior at Quebec had a 
zeal which " caused him to wish that he might be an 
angel of glad tidings to the far nations; and, at the 
expense of a thousand lives, to go and search in the 
depths of the forest the lost sheep for whose welfare he 
had crossed the sea." 

The murder of Garreau, four years before, did not 
intimidate, but his blood increased the courage of the 
church, and Rene Menard was the one selected to be 
the cross-bearer to the barbarians in the regions round 
about Lake Superior toward the Mississippi River. 

His hair whitened by age, his mind ripened by long 
experience, and acquainted with the peculiarities of 
Indian character, he seemed the man for the mission. 

The night before he started, the eyes of the venerable 
priest were not closed. He thought much of his friends, 
and, knowing that he was about to go into a land of 
barbarians, two hours after midnight he penned a letter, 

Raddisson, another Frenchmen, he * My Reverend Father— The Peace 

piloted an English vessel, command- of Christ be with you: 

ed by Captain Gillam, a Yankee, to I write to you probably the last 

the River Nemiscau, on the east side word, which I hope will be the seal 

of "James Bay, where Fort Rupert of our friendship until eternity, 

was built. See O'Callaghan's note, Love whom the Lord Jesus did not 

vol. is. p. 707, Paris Doc. : Col. His- disdain to love, though the greatest 

tory of New York. of sinners, for he loves whom he 



MENARD AT LAKE SUPERIOR. 105 

touching in its simplicity, and which will be embalmed 
in the literature of the future dwellers on the shores of 
Lake Superior. 

Early on the morning of the 28th of August, 1660, 
he, in company with eight Frenchmen, departed with 
the Ottawa convoy from ■" Three Elvers." After much 
ridicule from the wild companions of his voyage, he 
arrived at a bay on Lake Superior, on the 1 5th of 
October, St. Theresa's day, on which account he so 
designated the sheet of water. 

During the following winter they remained at this 
point. Their supply of provisions being exhausted, 
they nearly starved. " At times they scraped up a mess 
of the ' tripe de roche,' which slightly thickened their 
water, foaming upon it a kind of foam or slime, similar 
to that of snails, and which served rather to nourish 
their imagination than their bodies :" at other times they 

loads with his cross. Let your have been a little surprised, not be- 

friendship, my good father, be use- ing able to provide ourselves with 

ful to me by the desirable fruits of vestments and other things ; but he 

your daily sacrifice. In three or who feeds the little birds and clothes 

four months, you may remember me the lilies of the fields, will take care 

at the memento for the dead, on.ac- of his servants ; and though it should 

count of my old age, my weak con- happen we should die with want, we 

stitution, and the hardships I lay would esteem ourselves happy. I 

under amongst these tribes. Never- am loaded with affairs. What I can 

theless, I am in peace, for I have do is to recommend our journey to 

not been led to this mission by any your daily sacrifices, and to embrace 

temporal motive, but I think it was you with the same sentiments of 

by the voice of God. I was afraid, heart, as I hope to do in eternity, 
by not coming here, to resist the My reverend father, your most 

grace of God. Eternal remorse would humble and affectionate servant in 

have tormented me, had I not come Jesus Christ, 
when I had the opportunity. Wo R. Menard. 

From the Three Rivers, this ") 
27th August, 2 o'clock >■ 
after midnight, 1660. ) 



106 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

subsisted on pounded fish-bones and acorns. When 
the vernal breezes began to blow, ducks, geese, and 
wild pigeons made their appearance, and their bodies 
strengthened. 

The refugee Hurons, and Ottawas hearing that a 
" black gown" was on the shores of the lake, invited 
him to visit them. 

Menard appointed three young Frenchmen to act 
as pioneers, and reconnoitre the country and make 
presents. On their journey their canoe was stolen, 
and after many difficulties they returned. Their 
report was discouraging, but did not deter the aged 
enthusiast. His last written sentences, penned in July, 
1661, are : — 

" I hear every day four populous nations spoken of, 
that are distant from here about two or three hundred 
leagues. I expect to die on my way to them ; but as I 
am so far advanced, and in health, I shall do all that is 
possible to reach them. The route, most of the way, 
lies across swamps, through which it is necessary to feel 
your way in passing, and to be in danger every moment 
of sinking too deep to extricate yourself; provisions 
which can only be obtained by carrying them with you, 
and the mosquitoes, whose numbers are frightful, are 
the three great obstacles which render it difficult for me 
to obtain a companion." 

Some Hurons having come to treat with the Ojibways, 
agreed to act as guides. Selecting John Guerin, a faith- 
ful man, as his companion, he started, with some dried 
fish and smoked meat for provisions. The Indians, full 
of caprice, soon moved off, and left the priest and his 
friend in an unknown country. Bruised in limb, and 
faint in body, on the 10th of August, Menard, while 



DISAPPEARANCE OF MENARD. 107 

following his companion, lost himself in "Wisconsin near 
the sources of Black River.* 

The agony of Guerin is great when he looks behind 
and beholds not the aged traveller. He calls at the top 
of his voice, but he only hears the echo. He fires his 
gun repeatedly, to lead him to the right path ; at last 
he wanders to a Huron village, and, by gestures and 
tears, and the promise of reward, induced a youth to go 
in search. He soon returned, weary ; and from that 
day there have been no traces of his body. 

His camp kettle w~as found in a Sauk's hand, and 
some years after his disappearance, his robe and prayer 
book were found in a Dahkotah lodge, and were looked 
upon as " wawkawn " or supernatural. 

In the summer of 1663 the mournful intelligence of 
the loss of Menard reached Quebec, and one v r as soon 
found to be his successor — Father Claude Allouez, who 
anxiously awaited the means of conveyance to his scene 
of labour. In the year 1665 a hundred canoes, laden 
with Indians and peltries, arrived at Montreal from 
Lake Superior. A Frenchman, who accompanied them, 
reported that the Outaouaks (Ojibw r ays) were attacked 
on one side by the Iroquois, and on the other by the 
Xadouessioux (Dahkotahs), a warlike people, who 
carry on cruel wars with nations still more distant. 
Allouez rejoiced at the sight of the frail barks, and 
greeted the besmeared savages as if they w r ere visitants 
from a better land. In a letter written at the time, his 
full heart thus speaks : " At last it has pleased God to 
send us the angels of the Upper Algonquins to conduct 
us to their country." 

On the 8th of August, 1665, with six Frenchmen 

* Appendix B 



108 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

and four hundred savages, returning from their trading 
expedition, he embarked. 

Having made a portage at Sault St. Marie, on the 2d 
of September their birch canoes glided on the waters of 
Lake Superior. On the 1st of October they arrived at 
the Chegoimegon, a beautiful bay (Bayfield, Wisconsin), 
where were two large villages, one of which was occupied 
by the Hurons, who had been driven from the Dahkotah 
country under the following circumstances : — 

Having claimed superiority, on account of the pos- 
session of fire-arms, they taunted the Dahkotahs, who 
had received them when they were outcasts and flying 
from the Iroquois, on account of their simplicity. At 
last, provoked beyond endurance, they decoyed a num- 
ber of Hurons into a wild rice marsh, and killed many 
with their primitive, but not to be despised, stone-tipped 
arrows, and drove the remnant to Chegoimegon. 
. The second village was composed of several bands of 
Ojibways, whose ancestors had, a long time before, lived 
east of Lake Michigan, but had been driven westward 
by the Iroquois. 

This point was a centre of trade for many nations. 
Even the Illinois came here to fish and exchange com- 
modities. 

Allouez, when he landed at La Pointe, as the French 
named the place, in consequence of a tongue-like pro- 
jection of land, found a scene of great confusion. In 
the language of Bancroft, " It was at a moment when 
the young warriors were bent on a strife with the war- 
like Sioux. A grand council of ten or twelve neigh- 
bouring nations was held to wrest the hatchet from the 
hands of the rash braves, and Allouez was admitted to 
an audience before the vast assembly. In the name of 



ALLOUEZ AT LA POINTU 109 

Louis XIV. and his viceroy, he commanded peace, and 
offered commerce and alliance against the Iroquois — 
the soldiers of France would smooth the path between 
the Chippewas and Quebec — would brush the pirate 
canoes from the rivers — would leave to the Five Nations 
no choice, but between tranquillity and destruction. On 
the shore of the bay to which the abundant fisheries at- 
tracted crowds, a chapel soon rose, and the mission of the 
Holy Spirit was founded. There admiring throngs, who 
had never seen an European, came to gaze on the white 
man, and on the pictures which he displayed of the 
realms of hell, and of the last judgment. There a 
choir of Chippewas were taught to chant the pater and 
the ave. * * * * The Sacs and Foxes travelled 
on foot from their country, which abounded in deer, 
beaver, and buffalo. The Illinois also, a hospitable 
race, unaccustomed to canoes, having no weapon but 
the bow and arrow, came to rehearse their sorrows. 
******* Curiosity was roused by their 
tale of the noble river on which they dwelt, and which 
flowed toward the south. Then, too, at the very extre- 
mity of the lake, the missionary met the wild and 
impassioned Sioux, who dwelt to the west/ of Lake 
Superior, in a land of prairies, with wild rice for food, 
and skins of beasts instead of bark for roofs to their 
cabins, on the bank of the great river, of which Allouez 
reported the name to be Messipi." 

While on an excursion to Lake Alempigon (Saint- 
Anne), he met, at Fond du Lac, in Minnesota, some 
Dahkotah warriors ; and, in describing them, he is the 
first to give the name of the great river of which the 
Indians had told so many wonderful stories. 



110 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

In the relations of the mission of the Holy Spirit, 
the following remarks are made of the Dahkotahs : — 

" This is a tribe that dwells to the west of this (Fond 
du Lac), toward the great river called Messipi. They 
are forty or fifty leagues from here, in a country of 
prairies, abounding in all kinds of game. They have 
fields hi which they do not sow Indian corn, but only 
tobacco. Providence has provided them with a species 
of marsh rice, which, toward the end of summer, they 
go to collect in certain small lakes that are covered with 
it. They know how to prepare it so well that it is 
quite agreeable to the taste and nutritive. They pre- 
sented me with some when I was at the extremity of 
Lake Tracy (Superior), where I saw them. They do 
not use the gun, but only the bow and arrow, which 
they use with great dexterity. Their cabins are not 
covered with bark, but with deerskins well dried, and 
stitched together so well that the cold does not enter. 
These people are, above all other, savage and warlike. 
In our presence they seemed abashed, and were motion- 
less as statues. They speak a language entirely unknown 
to us, and the savages about here do not understand 
them." 

After two years passed among the Algonquins at La 
Pointe and vicinity, Allouez was convinced that his 
mission would not prosper, unless he had some assist- 
ance. He determined to go in person to Quebec, and 
implore labourers for the field. Arriving there on the 
3d day of August, 1667, he worked night and day ; and, 
after two days, the bow of his canoe was again turned 
towards the far West. His party consisted at first of 
Father Louis Nicholas, and another Jesuit, with four 
labourers ; but, when they came to the canoes, the 



MARQUETTE'S DESCRIPTION OF DAHKOTAHS. Ill 

whimsical savages only allowed Allouez, Nicholas, and 
one of their men, to enter. But, notwithstanding the 
help obtained, the savage hearts could not be subdued ; 
and, " weary of their obstinate unbelief," he resolved to 
leave La Pointe. On the loth of September, 1669. the 
renowned Marquette took his place ; and, writing to his 
Superior, describes the Dahkotahs in these words : — 

" The Nadouessi are the Iroquois of this country, be- 
yond La Pointe, but less faithless, and never attack till 
attacked. 

i; They lie south-west of the mission of the Holy 
Spirit, and we have not yet visited them, having con- 
fined ourselves to the conversion of the Ottawas. 

" Their language is entirely different from the Huron 
and Algonquin ; they have many villages, but are 
widely scattered; they have very extraordinary cus- 
toms; they principally use the calumet; they do not 
speak at great feasts, and when a stranger arrives give 
him to eat of a wooden fork, as we would a child. 

"All the lake tribes make war on them, but with 
small success. They have false oats (wild rice), use 
little canoes, and keep their word strictly. I sent 
them a present by an interpreter, to tell them to recog- 
nise the Frenchman everywhere, and not to kill him or 
the Indians in his company ; that the black gown wishes 
to pass to the country of the Assinipouars (Assineboines), 
and to that of the Kilistinaux (Cnistineaux) ; that he 
was already with the Outagamis (Foxes), and that I 
was going this fall to the Illinois, to whom they should 
leave a free passage. 

" They agreed ; but as for my present waited till all 
came from the chase, promising to come to La Pointe 



112 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

in the fall, to hold a council with the Illinois and speaK 
with me. Would that all these nations loved God as 
they feared the French." 

The relations of the Jesuits for 1670-71, allude to 
the Dahkotahs, and their attack on the Hurons and 
Ojibways of La Pointe : — 

" There are certain people, called Nadouessi, dreaded 
by their neighbours, and although they only use the 
bow and arrow, they use it with so much skill and so 
much dexterity that, in a moment, they fill the air. In 
the Parthian mode, they turn their heads in flight, and 
discharge their arrows so rapidly, that they are no less 
to be feared in their retreat than in their attack. 

" They dwell on the shores of, and around the great 
river, Messipi, of which we shall speak. They number 
no less than fifteen populous towns, and yet they know 
not how to cultivate the earth by seeding it, contenting 
themselves with a species of marsh rye, which we call 
wild oats. 

" For sixty leagues, from the extremity of the upper 
lakes towards sunset, and, as it were, in the centre of 
the western nations, they have all united their force, by 
a general league, which has been made against them, 
as against a common enemy. 

" They speak a peculiar language, entirely distinct 
from that of the Algonquins and Hurons, whom they 
generally surpass in generosity, since they often content 
themselves with the glory of having obtained the vic- 
tory, and freely release the prisoners they have taken 
in battle. 

" Our Outaouacs and Hurons, of the Point of the 
Holy Ghost, had, to the present time, kept up a kind 



LA POLNTE MISSION ABANDONED.— OJIBWAYS DIVIDED. 113 

of peace with them, but affairs having become embroiled 
during last winter, and some murders having been com- 
mitted on both sides, our savages had reason to appre- 
hend that the storm would soon burst upon them, and 
judged that it was safer for them to leave the place, 
which in fact they did in the spring." 

La Pointe being abandoned, the nearest French set- 
tlement is Sault St. Marie, at the foot of the lake. In 
the year 1674 a party of Dahkotahs arrived there to 
make an alliance with the French, having been defeated 
in recent engagements with their foes. They visited 
the mission-house of Father Dreuilletes, where some of 
their nation were under religious instruction; and a 
council of the neighbouring tribes was called to delibe- 
rate on the proposed peace. A Cree Indian insulted 
a Dahkotah chief by brandishing his knife in his face. 
Fired at the indignity, he drew his own stone knife 
from his belt, and shouted the war cry. A fierce con- 
flict now took place, in which the ten Dahkotah envoys 
were scalped and the mission-house burned. 

The Saulteurs 1 or Ojibways divided into two bands, 
not far from this period. One remained at the Falls 
of Saint Mary, and subsisted on the delicious white fish, 
the other retired towards the extremity of Lake Supe- 
rior, and settled at two places, making an alliance with 
the Dahkotahs, who were anxious for French goods, 
which they strengthened by intermarriages. The Dah- 
kotahs, who had their villages near the Mississippi, 

1 Name applied because they lived called them Pauotig-oueieuhak, In- 

at Sault St. Marie. The Dahkotahs habitants of the Falls, or Pahoui- 

call them Ha-ha-twawns, Dweller at tingdachirini, Men of the Shallow 

the Falls. The Algonquin tribes Cataract. 
8 



114 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



about the forty-sixth degree of latitude, shared their 
country with their new allies. During the winter, the 
Ojibways hunted, and in the spring they returned to 
the shores of Lake Superior. While in the land of the 
Dahkotahs, they took care not to assist them in their 
wars, lest they should be embroiled with surrounding 
nations. 1 



1 In 1 864, Tailhan, a Jesuit, pub- 
lished at Leipsic and Paris, for the 
first time, the narrative of Nicolas 
Perrot. It states that the Hurons, 
flying from the Iroquois of New 
York, reached the Mississippi, 
crossed and ascended the Upper 
Iowa River. Retracing their steps, 
they entered the Scioux country, and 
lived for a time on the prairie island 



a few miles above Lake Pepin. 
Having quarrelled with the Sioux, 
they migrated to the head-waters 
of the Black River. 

In 1659 the trader Grosellier 
visited the Sioux, and found the 
Hurons in the Black River Valley. 
After this they again moved, and 
joined the Hurons at La Pointe. 



THE FUR TRADE 1 15 



CHAPTER V. 

The trade in furs has produced a class of men of 
marked peculiarities. Under the French dominion, 
military officers, and the descendants of a decayed 
nobility, were licensed, by authority, to trade in a 
particular district. These men were well educated, 
polished in their manners, and fond of control. Living 
in a savage land, surrounded by a few dependents, they 
acted as monarchs of all they surveyed. The freedom 
from the restraints of civilized life, and the adulation 
received from the barbarians, who are so easily im- 
pressed by tinsel and glare, had a wonderful fascina- 
tion, so that a " lodge in some vast wilderness" became 
preferable to the drawing-rooms of ancient France, and 
the gay assemblies of Quebec. 

These licensed officers did not harass themselves with 
the minutiae of the Indian trade. In their employ were 
a few clerks, chiefly natives of' Canada, who had re- 
ceived the rudiments of an education. Upon these 
devolved the task of conducting European articles of 
merchandise, to the tribes on the various watercourses 
that radiated from the centre of trade, with whom they 
wintered, and then returned in the spring or summer 
with the peltries that had been obtained in exchange 
for powder, lead, ruin, and tobacco. 



11.6 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Under (;ach clerk were a few men of no cultivation, 
the children of poverty or shame, who from their 
earliest youth had led a roving life, and who acted as 
canoe men, hewers of wood, and drawers of water. 

Mercurial in temperament, and with no sense of 
responsibility, they were a "jolly set" of fellows, in 
their habits approximating to the savage, rather than 
the European. 

The labours of the day finished, they danced around 
the camp-fire to the sound of the viol, or they purchased 
the virtue of some Indian maiden, and engaged in 
debauch as disgusting as that of sailors sojourning in 
the isles of the South Sea, or 

" Worn with the long day's march, and the chase 

of the deer, and the bison, 
Stretched themselves on the ground and slept 

where the quivering fire-light 
Flashed on their swarthy cheeks, and their 

forms wrapped up in their blankets." 1 

Inured to toil, they arose in the morning " when it 
was yet dark," and pushing the prow of their light 
canoes into the water, swiftly they glided away " like 
the shade of a cloud on the prairie," and did not break 
fast until the sun had been above the horizon for several 
hours. 

Halting for a short period they partook of their coarse 
fare, and sang their rude songs ; then re-embarking, 
they pursued their course to the land of the beaver and 
the buffalo, until the " shades of night began to fall." 

From early youth accustomed to descend rapids, and 
ascend lofty bluffs with heavy burdens, they guided 

1 Evangeline. 



HABITS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 117 

their canoes, and carried their packs through places 
that would have been impassable to any but the " cou- 
reurs des bois." 1 When old age relaxed their sinew}' 
joints, they returned to Mackinaw, or some other 
entrepot, and with an Indian woman obtained, after 
the manner of the country, to mend their moccasins 
and hoe their gardens, passed the remainder of life in 
whiffing the pipe and recounting hair-breadth escapes. 

The " bois brule" 2 offspring naturally became enam- 
oured with the rover's life, a retrospect of which infused 
fire into the dim eyes of the old man, and as soon as 
employment could be obtained they left the homestead 
to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. 

The voyageur seldom remains in a settled country. 
As civilization advances he feels cramped and uncom- 
fortable, and follows the Indian hi his retreat. On the 
confines of Minnesota are many of this class, whose 
fathers, a generation ago, dwelt at La Pointe, Green 
Bay, or Prairie du Chien. Before France had taken 
formal possession of the region of the Lakes, hundreds 
of " coureurs des bois" had ventured into the distant 
North- West. The absence of so many from regular 
pursuits, was supposed to be disastrous to the interests 
of the colony, and measures were taken by the French 
government to compel them to return, which resulted 
in only partial success. 

Du Chesneau, Intendant of Canada, was worried by 
the lawlessness of the rovers, and writes to the Minister 
of Marine 3 and Colonies of France : — 

1 So called because they wandered wood/' applied to half-breeds be- 
through the woods, to obtain peltries cause of their dark complexions, 
from the savages. 3 Nov. 10, 1679, Paris Documents, 

2 This term, meaning "burnt 11. Col. Hist. N. Y. vol. ix. p. 133. 



HS HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

" Be pleased to bear in mind, my lord, that there was 
a general complaint, the year previous to my arrival in 
this country, that the great quantity of people who 
went to trade for peltries to the Indian country, ruined 
the colony, because those who alone could improve it, 
being young and strong for work, abandoned their 
wives and children, the cultivation of lands, and rear- 
ing of cattle ; that they became dissipated ; that their 
absence gave rise to licentiousness among their wives, 
as has often been the case, and is still of daily occur- 
rence ; that they accustomed themselves to a loafing 
and vagabond life, which it was beyond their power to 
quit ; that they derived little benefit from their labours, 
because they were induced to waste in drunkenness and 
fine clothes the little they earned, which was very 
trifling, those who gave them licenses having the larger 
part, besides the price of the goods, which they sold 
them very dear, and that the Indians would no longer 
bring them peltries in such abundance to sell to the 
honest people, if so great a number of young men went 
in search of them to those very barbarians, who despised 
us on account of the great cupidity we manifested." 

At one period, three-fourths of the revenue of Canada 
was derived from the fur trade. 

Only twenty-five licenses were granted each year; 
and when a " poor gentleman" or " old officer" did not 
wish to go West, he disposed of his permit, which was 
valued at six hundred crowns, to the merchants of 
Quebec or Montreal. Each license allowed the pos- 
sessor to send two canoes into the Indian country. Six 
"voyageurs" were employed for the canoes, and were 
furnished with goods valued at one thousand crowns, 
with an addition of fifteen per cent. The losses and 



PROFITS OF FUR TRADE.— PERROT. 119 

risk were great, but when a venture was successful the 
profits were enormous. 

The two canoes sometimes brought to Montreal 
beautiful furs valued at eight thousand crowns. The 
merchants received from the "coureurs des bois" six 
hundred crowns for the license, one thousand for the 
goods, and forty per cent, on the balance of sales ; the 
residue was divided among the "coureurs," giving to 
each five or six hundred crowns, which was disposed of 
as quickly, and much in the same way, as mariners dis- 
charged from a ship of war spend their wages. 

During the latter part of the seventeenth century, 
the name of Nicholas Perrot was familiar, not only to 
the men of business, and officers of government at 
Montreal and Quebec, but around the council fires of 
the Hurons, Ottawas, Otchagras, Ojibways, Pottawota- 
mies, Miamies, and Dahkotahs. A trader of Canada, 
accustomed from childhood to the excitement and in- 
cidents of border life, he was to a certain extent pre- 
pared for the wild scenes witnessed in after days. 

If the name of Joliet is worthy of preservation, the 
citizens of the North- West ought not to be willing to let 
the name of that man die, who was the first of whom 
we have any account that erected a trading post on the 
upper Mississippi. 

Perrot was a man of good family, and in his youth 
applied himself to study, and, being for a time in the 
service of the Jesuits, became familiar with the customs 
and languages of most of the tribes upon the borders of 
our lakes. 

Some years before La Salle had launched the " Griffin" 
on Lake Erie, and commenced his career of discovery, 
Perrot, at the request of the authorities in Canada, who 



120 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

looked upon him as a man of great tact, visited the 
various nations of the North- West, and invited them to 
a grand council at Sault St. Marie, for the purpose of 
making a treaty with France. Of mercurial tempera- 
ment, he performed the journey with great speed, going 
as far south as Chicago, the site of the present city. 

On the 3d of September, 1670, Talon, the Intendant 
of Canada, ordered Sieur de St. Lusson to proceed to 
the "countries of the Outaouais, Nez Perces, Illinois, 
and other nations discovered" near Lake Superior or 
the Fresh Sea, and search for mines, particularly cop- 
per. He was also delegated to take possession of all 
the countries through which he passed, planting the 
cross and the arms of France. 

In May, 1671, there was seen at the Falls of St. 
Mary, what has been of late, a frequent occurrence. 
Here was the first convocation of civilized men, with 
the aborigines of the North- West, for the formation of 
a compact, for the purposes of trade and mutual assist- 
ance. 1 

It was not only the custom but policy of the court 
of France to make a great display upon such an occa- 
sion. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that we 
should see the ecclesiastic and military officers, sur- 
rounded "with all of the pomp and circumstance" 
peculiar to their profession in that age of extravagance 
in externals. 

Allouez, the first ecclesiastic who saw the Dahkotahs 

1 The Europeans present, besides a soldier of the castle of Quebec ; 

De Lusson and Perrot, were the Je- Dennis Masse ; Chavigny ; Chevriot- 

suits, Andre\ Dreuilletes, Allouez, tiere ; Lagillier ; Maysere : Dupuis ; 

and Dablon ; also Joliet, the ex- Bidaud Joniel ; Po^cet ; Du Prat : 

plorer of the Mississippi ; Mogras, Vital Oriol ; Guillaume. 
of Three Rivers, Canada; Touppine, 



TAKING POSSESSION OF THE NORTH-WEST. 121 

face to face, and the founder of the mission among the 
Ojibways at La Pointe, opened council by detailing to 
the painted, grotesque assemblage, enveloped in the 
robes of the beaver and buffalo, the great power of his 
monarch who lived beyond the seas. 

Two holes were then dug, in one of which was 
planted a cedar column, and in the other a cross of the 
same material. After this the European portion of the 
assemblage chanted the hymn which was so often heard 
in the olden time from Lake Superior to Lake Pont> 
chartrain : — 

"Vexilla regis prodeunt 
Fulget cruris mysterium, 
Qua vita mortem pertulit, 
Et morte, vitam pertulit." 

The arms of France, probably engraved on leaden 
plates, were then attached to both column and cross, 
and again the whole company sang together the " Exau- 
diat," of the Roman Catholic sendee, the same as the 
20th Psalm, of the King James' version of the Bible. 
The delegates from the different tribes having signified 
their approval of what Perrot had interpreted of the 
speech of the French Envoy, St. Lusson, there was a 
grand discharge of musketry, and the chanting of the 
noble " Te Deum Laudamus." 

After this alliance was concluded, Perrot, in a spirit 
of enterprise, opened the trade with some of the more 
remote tribes. 

The first trading posts on Lake Superior, beyond 
Sault St. Marie, were built of pine logs, by Daniel 
Greysolon du Luth. a native of Lyons, at Kamanisti- 
goya, north east of Pigeon river, Minnesota. On the 

* Appendix C 



122 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

1st of September, 1678, he left Quebec, to explore the 
country of the Dahkotahs and Assineboines. 

The next year, on the 2d of July, he caused the 
king's arms to be planted " in the great village of the 
Nadouessioux (Dahkotahs), called Kathio, where no 
Frenchman had ever been, also at Songaskicons, and 
Houetbatons, 1 one hundred and twenty leagues distant 
from the former." 

On the 15th of September, he met the Assineboines 
and other nations, at the head of Lake Superior, for the 
purpose of settling their difficulties with the Dahkotahs, 
and was successful. 

On this tour he visited Mille Lac, which he called 
Lake Buade, the family name of Frontenac, governor of 
Canada. 2 

Du Chesneau, the intendant of Canada, appears to 
have been hostile to Du Luth, and wrote to Seignelay, 
Minister of the Colonies, that he and Governor Fronte- 
nac were in correspondence, and enriching themselves 
by the fur trade. He also intimated that the governor 
clandestinely encouraged Du Luth to sell his peltries 
to the English. From the tone of the correspondence, 
Du Chesneau was excitable and prejudiced. 3 

1 The Chongasketons and Ouade- vernor, having returned this year, 
batons of the early French maps, and I being advised that he had 
The former were the same as the traded in two days, one hundred and 
Sissetoans. fifty beaver robes in a single village 

2 Coronellis' map, corrected by of this tribe, amounting in all to 
Tillemon, published at Paris, 1688. nearly nine hundred beavers, which 

3 " The man named La Taupine, is a matter of public notoriety, and 
a 'famous ' coureur de bois,' who that he left with Du Luth, two men. 
set out in the month of September whom he had with him, considered 
of lahc ;* Q ar, 1678, to go to the Ou- myself bound to have him arrested 
tawacs, with goods, and who has and to question him, but having pre- 
always been interested with the go- sen ted a license from the governor 



DU LUTH'S UNCLE. 



123 



He attempted to imprison several of Du Luth's friends, 
among others his uncle, named Patron, who was a mer- 
chant, and his agent for the sale of furs. 

The account that Perrot gave of his explorations be- 
yond Lake Michigan, attracted the attention of La Salle, 
and induced him to project those enterprises which have 
given distinction to his name. 



permitting him and his comrades, 
Lamonde, and Dupuy, to repair to 
the Outawac nation to execute his 
secret orders, I had him set at li- 
berty. Immediately on his going 
out, Sieur Prevost, Town-Mayor of 
Quebec, came at the head of some 
soldiers, to force the prison, with 
written orders in these terms from 
the governor : — 

" ' Count de Frontenac, Councillor 
of the King in his Council, Governor 



and Lieutenant-General of His Ma- 
jesty in New France : 

"Sieur Prevost, Mayor of Quebec, 
is ordered, in case the Intendant ar- 
rest Pierre Moreau, alias La Tau 
pine, whom we have sent to Quebec 
as bearer of despatches, upon pre- 
text of his having been in the bush, 
to set him forthwith at liberty, and 
employ every means for this purpose 
at his peril. Done at Montreal, 5th 
September, 1679. 

Frontenac/ " 



124 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Tee same autumn that Du Luth left Montreal for 
the region west of Lake Superior, La Salle was at Fort 
Frontenac, the modern Kingston, busily engaged in 
maturing his plans for an occupation of the Mississippi 
valley. During the winter and the following spring his 
employees were occupied in building a vessel to navi- 
gate the lakes. Among those who were to accompany 
him on the voyage was Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan 
priest, of the Kecollect order. 

Among the first to explore the Mississippi above 
the mouth of the Wisconsin; the first to name and 
describe the Falls of Saint Anthony ; the first to pre- 
sent an engraving of the Falls of Niagara to the literary 
world ; the Minnesotian will desire to know something 
of the antecedents and subsequent life of this individual. 

The account of Hennepin's early life is chiefly ob- 
tained from the introduction to the Amsterdam edition 
of his book of travels. He was born in Ath, an inland 
town of the Netherlands. From boyhood he longed 
to visit foreign countries, and it is not to be wondered 
at that he assumed the priestly office, for next to the 
army, it was the road, in that age, to distinction. For 
several years he led quite a wandering life. A member 



HENNEPIN'S FONDNESS OF ADVENTURE. 125 

of the Recollect branch of the Franciscans, at one time 
he is on a begging expedition to some of the towns on 
the sea coast. In a few months he occupies the post of 
chaplain at an hospital, where he shrives the dying and 
administers extreme unction. From the quiet of the hos- 
pital he proceeds to the camp, and is present at the battle 
of Senefle, which occurred in the year 1674. 

His whole mind, from the time that he became a 
priest, appears to have been on " things seen and tem- 
poral," rather than on those that are " unseen and 
eternal." While on duty at some of the ports on the 
Straits of Dover, he exhibited the characteristic of an 
ancient Athenian more than that of a professed successor 
of the Apostles. He sought out the society of strangers 
" who spent their time in nothing else but either to tell 
or to hear some new thing." With perfect nonchalance 
he confesses that notwithstanding the nauseating fumes 
of tobacco, he used to slip behind the doors of sailors' 
taverns, and spend days, without regard to the loss of 
his meals, listening to the adventures and hair-breadth 
escapes of the mariners in lands beyond the sea. 

In the year 1676 he received a welcome order from 
his Superior, requiring him to embark for Canada. Un- 
accustomed to the world, and arbitrary in his disposi- 
tion, he rendered the cabin of the ship in which he 
sailed anything but heavenly. As in modern days, the 
passengers in a vessel to the new world were composed 
of heterogeneous materials. There were young women 
going out in search for brothers or husbands, ecclesias- 
tics, and those engaged in the then new, but profitable, 
commerce in furs. One of his fellow passengers was the 
talented and enterprising, though unfortunate, La Salle, 
with whom he afterwards associated. If he is to be 



126 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

credited, his intercourse with La Salle was not very 
pleasant on ship-board. The young women, tired of 
being cooped up in the narrow accommodations of the 
ship, when the evening was fair sought the deck, and 
engaged in the rude dances of the French peasantry of 
that age. Hennepin, feeling that it was improper, 
began to assume the air of the priest, and forbade the 
sport. La Salle, feeling that his interference was un- 
called for, called him a pedant, and took the side of the 
girls, and during the voyage there were stormy discus- 
sions. 

Good humour appears to have been restored when 
they left the ship, for Hennepin would otherwise have 
not been the companion of La Salle in his great Western 
journey. 

Sojourning for a short period at Quebec, the adven- 
ture-loving Franciscan is permitted to go to a mission 
station on or near the site of the present town of Kings- 
ton, Canada West. 

Here there was much to gratify his love of novelty, 
and he passed considerable time in rambling among 
the Iroquois of New York, who hunted as far 
eastward as the Dutch Fort Orange, now the city of 
Albany. 

In 1678 he returned to Quebec, and was ordered to 
join the expedition of Robert La Salle. 

On the 6th of December Father Hennepin and a por- 
tion of the exploring party had entered the Niagara 
river. In the vicinity of the Falls, the winter was 
passed, and while the artisans were preparing a ship 
above the Falls, to navigate the great lakes, the Recol- 
lect wiled away the hours in studying the manners and 



THE SHIP GRIFFIN— HENNEPIN. 127 

customs of the Seneca Indians, and in admiring the 
sublimest handiwork of God on the globe. 

On the 7th of August, 1679, the ship being com- 
pletely rigged, unfurled its sails to the breezes of Lake 
Erie. The vessel was named, the " Griffin," in honour 
of the arms of Front en ac, Governor of Canada, the first 
ship of European construction that had ever ploughed 
the waters of the great inland seas of North America. 

After encountering a violent and dangerous storm on 
one of the lakes, during which they had given up all 
hopes of escaping shipwreck, on the 27th of the month, 
they were safely moored in the harbour of " Missili- 
mackinack.' , From thence the party proceeded to 
Green Bay, where they left the ship, procured canoes, 
and continued along the coast of Lake Michigan. By 
the middle of January, 1680, La Salle had conducted 
his expedition to the Illinois river, and on an eminence 
near Lake Peoria, he commenced, with much heaviness 
of heart, the erection of a fort, which he called Creve- 
cceur, on account of the many disappointments he had 
experienced. 

La Salle, in the month of February, selected Henne- 
pin and two traders for the arduous and dangerous 
undertaking of exploring the unknown regions of the 
upper Mississippi. 

Daring and ambitious of distinction as a discoverer, 
he was not averse to such a commission, though per- 
haps he may have shrunk from the undertaking at so 
inclement a season as the last of February is, in this 
portion of North America. 

On the 29th of February, 1680, with two voyageurs, 
named Picard du Gay and Michael Ako, Hennepin em- 
barked in a canoe on the voyage of discovery * 

Appendix. D 



128 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

The venerable Ribourde, a member of a Burgundian 
family of high rank, and a fellow Franciscan, came 
down to the river bank to see him off, and, in bidding 
him farewell, told him to acquit himself like a man, and 
be of good courage. His words were, " Viriliter age et 
confortetur cor tuum." 

The canoe was loaded with about one hundred and 
fifty dollars' worth of merchandise for the purpose of 
trade with the Indians, and in addition La Salle pre- 
sented to Hennepin ten knives, twelve awls or bodkins, 
a parcel of tobacco, a package of needles, and a pound 
or two of white or black beads. 

The movements of Hennepin, during the month of 
March, are not very clearly related. He appears to 
have been detained at the junction of the Illinois with 
the Mississippi by the floating ice, until near the mid- 
dle of that month. He then commenced the ascent o" 
the river for the first time by civilized man, though 
Marquette had, seven years before, descended from the 
Wisconsin. 

Surrounded by hostile and unknown natives, they 
cautiously proceeded. On the 11th of April, 1680, 
thirty-three bark canoes, containing a Dahkotah war 
party against the Illinois and Miami nations, hove in 
sight, and commenced discharging their arrows at the 
canoe of the Frenchmen. Perceiving the calumet of 
peace, they ceased their hostile demonstrations and ap- 
proached. The first night that Hennepin and his com- 
panions passed with the Dahkotah party was one of 
anxiety. The next morning, a chief named Narrhetoba 
asked for the peace calumet, filled it with willow bark 
and all smoked. It was then signified that the white 
men were to return with them to their villages. 



FRANCISCAN'S ATTEMPT TO PRAY. 129 

In his narrative the Franciscan remarks : — " I found 
it difficult to say my office before these Indians. Many 
seeing me move my lips, said in a fierce tone, ' Ouak- 
anche.' Michael, all out of countenance, told me, that 
if I continued to say my breviary, we should all three 
be killed, and the Picard begged me at least to pray 
apart, so as not to provoke them. I followed the 
latter's advice, but the more I concealed myself, the 
more I had the Indians at my heels, for when I entered 
the wood, they thought I was going to hide some goods 
under ground, so that I knew not on what side to turn 
to pray, for they never let me out of sight. This 
obliged me to beg pardon of my canoe-men, assuring 
them I could not dispense with saying my office. By 
the word 'Ouakanche,' the Indians meant that the 
book I was reading was a spirit, but by their gesture 
they nevertheless showed a kind of aversion, so that to 
accustom them to it, I chanted the Litany of the Blessed 
Virgin in the canoe, with my book opened. They 
thought that the breviary was a spirit which taught me 
to sing for their diversion, for these people are naturally 
fond of singing." 

This is the first mention of a Dahkotah word in a 
European book. The savages were annoyed rather 
than enraged, at seeing the white man reading a book, 
and exclaimed " Wakan-de !" this is wonderful or super- 
natural. The war party was composed of several bands 
of the M'dewakantonwan Dahkotahs, and there was a 
diversity of opinion in relation to the disposition that 
should be made of the white men. The relatives of 
those who had been killed by the Miamis, were in 
favour of taking their scalps, but others were anxious 



130 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

to retain the favour of the French, and open a trading 
intercourse. 

Perceiving one of the canoe-men shoot a wild turkey, 
they called the gun Manza Ouackange — iron that has 
understanding ; more correctly, Maza Wakande, this is 
the supernatural metal. 

Aquipaguatin, one of the head men, resorted to the 
following device to obtain merchandise. Says the 
Father, " this wily savage had the bones of some dis- 
tinguished relative, which he preserved with great care 
in some skins dressed and adorned with several rows of 
black and red porcupine quills. From time to time he 
assembled his men to give it a smoke, and made us 
come several days to cover the bones with goods, and 
by a present wipe away the tears he had shed for him, 
and for his own son killed by the Miamis. To appease 
this captious man, we threw on the bones several 
fathoms of tobacco, axes, knives, beads, and some black 
and white wampum bracelets. ******* 
We slept at the point of the Lake of Tears, 1 which we 
so called from the tears which this chief shed all night 
long, or by one of his sons whom he caused to weep 
when he grew tired." 

The next day, after four or five leagues' sail, a chief 
came, and telling them to leave their canoes, he pulled 
up three piles of grass for seats. Then taking a piece 
of cedar, full of little holes, he placed a stick into one, 
which he revolved between the palms of his hands, 
until he kindled a fire, and informed the Frenchmen 
that they would be at Mille Lac in six days. On the 
nineteenth day after their captivity, they arrived in the 

1 Lake Pepin. 



HENNEPIN NEAR ST. PAUL.— MILLE LAC. 131 

vicinity of Saint Paul, not far, it is probable, from the 
marshy ground on which the Kaposia band once lived, 
and now called " Pig's Eye." 

The journal remarks, " Having arrived, on the nine- 
teenth day of our navigation, five leagues below St. 
Anthony's Falls, these Indians landed us in a bay, 
broke our canoe to pieces, and secreted their own in 
the reeds." 

They then followed the trail to Mille Lac, sixty 
leagues distant. As they approached their villages, the 
various bands began to show their spoils. The tobacco 
was highly prized, and led to some contention. The 
chalice of the Father, which glistened in the sun, they 
were afraid to touch, supposing it was " wakan." 1 After 
five days' walk they reached the Issati (Dahkotah) 
settlements in the valley of the Rum river. The dif- 
ferent bands each conducted a Frenchman to their 
village, the chief Aquipaguetin taking charge of Hen- 
nepin. After marching through the marshes towards 
the sources of Rum river, five wives of the chief, in 
three bark canoes, met them and took them a short 
league to an island where their cabins were. 

An aged Indian kindly rubbed down the way-worn 
Franciscan — placing him on a bear-skin near the fire, 
he anointed his legs and the soles of his feet with wild- 
cat oil. 

The son of the chief took great pleasure in carrying 
upon his bare back the priest's robe with dead men's 
bones enveloped. It was called Pere Louis Chinnien — 
in the Dahkotah language Shinna or Shinnan signifies 

1 The word for supernatural, in ed, but pronounced " wakon," or 
the Dahkotah Lexicon, is thus spell- " wawkawn." 



Ib2 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

a buffalo robe. Hennepin's description of his life on 
the island is in these words : — 

" The day after our arrival, Aquipaguetin, who was 
the head of a large family, covered me with a robe made 
of ten large dressed beaver skins, trimmed with porcu- 
pine quills. This Indian showed me five or six of his 
wives, telling them, as I afterwards learned, that they 
should in future regard me as one of their children. 

" He set before me a bark dish full of fish, and, seeing 
that I could not rise from the ground, he had a small 
sweating-cabin made, in which he made me enter naked 
with four Indians. This cabin he covered with buffalo 
skins, and inside he put stones red-hot. He made me 
a sign to do as the others before beginning to sweat, but 
I merely concealed my nakedness with a handkerchief. 
As soon as these Indians had several times breathed 
out quite violently, he began to sing vociferously, the 
others putting their hands on me and rubbing me while 
they wept bitterly. I began to faint, but I came out 
and could scarcely take my habit to put on. When he 
made me sweat thus three times a week, I felt as strong 
as ever." 

The mariner's compass was a constant source of 
wonder and amazement. Aquipaguetin having assem- 
bled the braves, would ask Hennepin to show his com- 
pass. Perceiving that the needle turned, the chief 
harangued his men, and told them that the Europeans 
were spirits, capable of doing anything. 

In the Franciscan's possession was an iron pot with 
lion paw feet, which the Indians would not touch unless 
their hands were wrapped in buffalo skins. 

The women looked upon it as " wakan," and would 
not enter the cabin where it was. 



QUERIES OF THE DAHKOTAHS. 133 

" The chiefs of these savages, seeing that I was de- 
sirous to learn, frequently made me write, naming all 
the parts of the human body; and as I would not put 
on paper certain indelicate words, at which they do not 
blush, they were heartily amused." 

They often asked the Franciscan questions, to answer 
which it was necessary to refer to his lexicon. This 
appeared very strange, and, as they had no word for 
paper, they said, " That white thing must be a spirit 
which tells Pere Louis all we say." 

Hennepin remarks : " These Indians often asked me 
how many wives and children I had, and how old I was, 
that is, how many winters ; for so these natives always 
count. Never illumined by the light of faith, they were 
surprised at my answer. Pointing to our two French- 
men, whom I was then visiting, at a point three leagues 
from our village, I told them that a man among us 
could only have one wife ; that, as for me, I had pro- 
mised the Master of life to live as they saw me, and to 
come and live with them to teach them to be like the 
French. 

" But that gross people, till then lawless and faithless, 
turned all I said into ridicule. ' How,' said they, ' would 
you have these two men with thee have wives ? Ours 
would not live with them, for they have hair all over 
their face, and we have none there or elsewhere.' In 
fact they were never better pleased with me than when 
I was shaved, and from a complaisance, certainly not 
criminal, I shaved every week. 

"As I often went to visit the cabins, I found a sick 
ohild, whose father's name was Mamenisi. Michael 
Ako would not accompany me ; the Picard du Gay alone 



134 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

followed me to act as sponsor, or rather to witness the 
baptism. 

" I christened the child Antoinette, in honour of St. 
Anthony of Padua, as well as for the Picard's name, 
which was Anthony Auguelle. He was a native of 
Amiens, and nephew of the Procurator-General of the 
Premonstratensians both now at Paris. Having poured 
natural water on the head and uttered these words : — 
' Creature of God, I baptize thee in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' I took 
half an altar cloth which I had wrested from the hands 
of an Indian who had stolen it from me, and put it on 
the body of the baptized child ; for as I could not say 
mass for want of wine and vestments, this piece of linen 
could not be put to better use, than to enshroud the 
first Christian child among these tribes. I do not know 
whether the softness of the linen had refreshed her, but 
she was the next day smiling in her mother's arms, who 
believed that I had cured the child — but she died soon 
after, to my great consolation. 

" During my stay among them, there arrived four 
savages, who said they were come alone five hundred 
leagues from the west, and had been four months upon 
the way. They assured us there was no such place as 
the Straits of Anian, and that they had travelled with- 
out resting, except to sleep, and had not seen or passed 
over any great lake, by which phrase they always mean 
the sea. 

" They further informed us that the nation of the 
Assenipoulacs (Assiniboines) who lie north-east of Issati, 
was not above six or seven days' journey ; that none of 
the nations, within their knowledge, who lie to the east 



FALSEHOODS OF HENNEPIN. 135 

or north-west, had any great lake about their countries, 
which were very large, but only rivers which came 
from the north. They further assured us that there 
were very few forests in the countries through which 
they passed, insomuch that now and then they were 
forced to make fires of buffaloes' dung to boil their food. 
All these circumstances make it appear that there is no 
such place as the Straits of Anian, as we usually see 
them set down on the maps. And whatever efforts 
have been made for many years past by the English 
and Dutch, to find out a passage to the Frozen Sea, they 
have not yet been able to effect it. But by the help of 
my discovery, and the assistance of God, I doubt not 
but a passage may still be found, and that an easy one 
too. 

" For example, we may be transported into the Paci- 
fic Sea, by rivers which are large and capable of carry- 
ing great vessels, and from thence it is very easy to go to 
China and Japan, icithout crossing the equinoctial line, 
and. in all probability, Japan is on the same continent as 
America." 

It is painful to witness a member of the sacred pro- 
fession so mendacious as Hennepin. After publishing 
a tolerably correct account of his adventures in Minne- 
sota, in 1683, at Paris, fifteen years after he issued 
another edition greatly enlarged, in which he claims to 
have descended the Mississippi towards the Gulf of 
Mexico, as well as discovered the Falls of St. Anthony. 
As the reader notes his glaring contradictions in this 
last work, he is surprised that the author should have 
been bold enough to contend, that the statements were 
reliable. Though a large portion was plagiarized from 



136 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



the accounts of other travellers, it had a rapid sale, and 
was translated into several languages. 1 



1 The following will give some 
idea of the popularity of Hennepin's 
narrative. It was prepared by Dr. 
O'Callaghan, for the Historical Ma- 
gazine, Jan. 1858, and is believed to 
be nearly a complete list of the seve- 
ral editions of Hennepin's books : 

No. 1. Description de la Louisiane. 
12mo. Paris, 1683. Meusel. Ter- 
naux, No. 985. 

2. The same. 12mo. Paris, 1684. 
Rich., in No. 403 of 1683. 

3. Descrizione della Luisiana. 
12mo. Bologna, 1686. Rib. Belg. 
Meusel Ternaux, No. 1012. Trans- 
lated by Casimir Frescot. 

4. Description de la Louisiane. 
12mo. Paris, 1688. Kicharderie 
Faribault. 

5. Beschryving van Louisiana. 
4to. Amsterdam, 1688. Harv. 
Cat. 

6. Beschreibung, &c. 12mo. 
Nurnberg, 1689. Meusal. Ternaux, 
No. 1041. 

7. Nouvelle Decouverte. 12mo. 
Utrecht, 1697. Ternaux, 1095. 
" Nouvelle Description," Meusel. 
Faribault. 

8. The same. 12mo. Amsterdam, 
1698. Ternaux, No. 1110. 

9. New Discovery. London, 1698. 
Ternaux, No. 1119, who calls it a 
4to. ; all the other catalogues an 8vo. 
J. R. B. says 2v. ; but see Rich. 

10. Another, same title. 8vo. 
London, 1698. J. R. B. 

11. Nouveau Voyage. 12mo. 
Utrecht, 1698. Ternaux, No. 1111. 
2v. Bib. Belg. Hennepin calls this 



his third vol. ; No. 1 sup., being his 
first, and No. 7 sup. his second. 
Rich. 

12. An edition in Dutch. 4to. 
Utrecht, 1698. J. R. B. 

13. Nouveau Voyage. Amster- 
dam, 1698. Faribault. 

14. A New Discovery of a Vast 
Country, &c. 8vo. London, Bon- 
wick, 1699. t. f. Ded. 4ff. Pref. 
2ff. Cont. 3ff. Text, pp. 240 and 
216, with tit., pref. and cont. to part 
II. ; two maps, six plates. [Not in 
any catalogue.] 

15. Relation, de un Pays, &c. 
12mo. Brusselas, 1699. Ternaux, 
1126. A translation into Spanish 
by Seb. Fern, de Medrano. 

16. Neue Entdekungen vieler 
grossen Landschaften in Amerika. 
12mo. Bremen, 1699. Ternaux, 
1049, who gives the date incorrectly, 
1690. Translated by Langen. Meu- 
sel, No. 6 of J. R. B., and an edition 
in German of No. 7. Supra. 

17. Voyage ou Nouvelle Decou- 
verte. 8vo. Amsterdam, 1704. 
Meusel, Rich., No. 8. 

18. The same. 8vo. Amsterdam, 
1711. Meusel. Faribault says 
" Nouvelle Description/' 

19. The same. 12mo. Amster- 
dam, 1712. J. R. B. 

20. A Discovery of a large, rich, 
&c. 8vo. London, 1720. Rich., 
No. 12. 

21. Nouvelle Description. Am 
sterdam, 1720. Faribault. 

22. Nouvelle Decouverte. 4to. 
Amsterdam, 1737. Richarderie. In 



KING OF FRANCE DISSATISFIED WITH HENNEPIN. 137 

No doubt much of the information which the author 
obtained in relation to Minnesota, was obtained from 
Du Luth, whom he met in the Dahkotah country, i .1 
with whom he descended the Mississippi on his return 
to Canada. 

Having made a favourable acquaintance with English 
gentlemen, he dedicated the edition of his work, pub- 
lished at Utrecht, in 1698, to King William, and the 
contents induced the British to send vessels to enter 
the Mississippi river. Callieres, Governor of Canada, 
writing to Pontchartrain, 1 the Minister, says, " I have 
learned that they are preparing vessels in England and 
Holland to take possession of Louisiana, upon the rela- 
tion of Pere Louis Hennepin, a Recollect who has made 
a book and dedicated it to King William." 

After he had earned a reputation, not to £>e coveted, 
he desired to return to America, and Louis XI V., in a 
despatch to Callieres, writes, " His majesty has been 
informed that Father Hennepin, a Dutch Franciscan, 
who has formerly been in Canada, is desirous of return- 
ing thither. As his majesty is not satisfied with the 
conduct of the friar, it is his pleasure, if he return 
thither, that they arrest and send him to the Intendant 
of Rochefort." 

In the year 1701 he was still in Europe, attached to 
a Convent in Italy. 2 He appears to have died in 
obscurity, unwept and unhonoured. 

Histoire des Incas. A translation of l May 12, 1699. See Smith's Hist. 

Garcilasso de la Vega by Rousseler. Wisconsin, vol. i., p. 318. 

23. Neue Entdekungen, &c. Bre- 2 Historical Magazine, Boston, p. 

men, 1742. The same as No. 15, 316, vol. i. 
with a new title page. 



lo8 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Du Luth and not Hennepin was considered the real 
discoverer of Minnesota. Le Clercq remarks, that " in 
the last year of M. de Frontenac's first administration, 
Sieur du Luth, a man of talent and experience, opened 
a way to the missionaries and the gospel in many dif- 
ferent nations, turning toward the north of that lake 
(Superior), where he even built a fort. He advanced 
as far as the Lake of the Issati (Mille Lac), called Lake 
Buade, from the family name of M. de Frontenac." 

In the month of June, 1680, he left his post on Lake 
Superior, and with two canoes, an Indian, and four 
Frenchmen, entered a river, eight leagues below, ascend- 
ing to the sources of which, he made a portage to a lake, 
which is the head of a river that entered into the Mis- 
sissippi. Proceeding toward the Dahkotah villages he 
met Hennepin, with a party of Indians. 

Keturning to Quebec, Du Luth visited France, and 
conferred with the Minister of the Colonies, but in 
1683, he was at Mackinaw fortifying the post against 
a threatened attack by the savages, and sending ex- 
presses to the Indians north and west of Lake Superior, 
who traded at Hudson's Bay with the English, to come 
and traffic with the French. 

In the spring of 1685, Governor De La Barre sent 
twenty men, under the command of Nicholas Perrot, to 
establish friendly alliances with the Ioways and Dah- 
kotah s. Proceeding to the Mississippi, he established a 
post near the mouth of Lake Pepin in Minnesota, which 
was known as Fort Perrot. 

He found the Miamies, Foxes, and Maskoutens, at war 






TERROT'S INTERVIEW WITH DAHKOTAHS.— LEAD MINES. 139 

with the Dahkotahs, who were at that time in alliance 
with their old foes, the Ojibways.* 

Frenchmen visited the Dahkotahs during the winter ; 
and, at the opening of navigation, a deputation of them 
came down to the post, and carried Perrot with great 
parade, on a robe of beavers, to the lodge of their chief, 
chanting songs, and weeping over his head according to 
custom. 

He learned from the Dahkotahs a droll adventure. 
The Hurons, who had fled to them for refuge, at length 
excited them to war. The Hurons secreted themselves 
in marshes, keeping their heads only out of water. The 
Dahkotahs, knowing that they would travel in the night, 
devised an ingenious stratagem. Cutting up beaver-skins 
into cords, they stretched them around the marshes, and 
suspended bells on them which they had obtained from 
the French. When night came the Hurons marched, 
and, stumbling over the unseen cords, they rung the 
bells, which was a signal for the attack of the Dahko- 
tahs, who killed the whole party with one exception. 

While they were in the neighbourhood, they pillaged 
the goods of some Frenchmen ; but, under the threats 
of Perrot, they were brought back. 

The Miamies brought to Perrot lumps of lead, which 
they said were found between the rocks, on the banks of 
a small stream which flowed into the Mississippi, about 
two days' journey below that point. These were pro- 
bably the mines of Galena, which are marked on De 
ITsle's maps of the Mississippi. 

In the month of March, 1684, notwithstanding all 
the attempts of the French to keep the peace, a band 
of Seneca and Cayuga warriors, having met seven canoes 

~ ;: ~ Appendix E 



140 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

manned by fourteen Frenchmen, with fifteen or sixteen 
thousand pounds of merchandise, who were going to 
trade with the " Scioux," pillaged and made them 
prisoners; and, after detaining them nine days, sent 
them away without arms, food, or canoes. This attack 
caused much alarm in Canada; and Du Luth, who 
appeared to have been at Fort Kamanatekwoya was 
ordered by the Governor of Canada to come and state 
the number of allies he could bring. 

Perrot, who happened to be engaged in trade among 
the Outagamis (Foxes), not very far distant from the 
bay, rendered him great assistance in collecting allies. 

With great expedition he came to Niagara, the place 
of rendezvous, with a band of Indians, and would alone 
have attacked the Senecas, had it not been for an 
express order from De La Barre, the governor, to 
desist. 

When Louis XIV. heard of this outbreak of the Iro- 
quois, he felt, to use his words, " that it was a grave 
misfortune for the colony of New France," and then, in 
his letter to the governor, he adds : " It appears to me 
that one of the principal causes of the war arises from 
one Du Luth having caused two Iroquois to be killed 
who had assassinated two Frenchmen in Lake Superior, 
and you sufficiently see how much this man's voyage, 
which cannot produce any advantage to the colony, 
and which was permitted only in the interest of some 
private persons, has contributed to distract the repose 
of the colony." 

The English of New York, knowing the hostility of 
the Iroquois to the French, used the opportunity to trade 
with the distant Indians. In 1685, one Roseboom, with 



DU LUTH.— ENGLISH CAPTURED. 141 

some young men, had traded with the Ottawas in Michi- 
gan. 

In the year 1686, an old Frenchman, who had lived 
among the Dutch and English in New York, came to 
Montreal, to visit a child at the Jesuit boarding-school ; 
and he stated that a Major McGregory, of Albany, was 
contemplating an expedition to Mackinac. 

Denonville having declared war in 1687, most of the 
French left the region of the Mississippi. Perrot and 
Boisguillot, at the time trading near the Wisconsin, 
leaving a few " coureurs des bois" to protect their goods 
from the Dahkotahs, joined Du Luth and Duran taye 
at Mackinaw 

The Governor of Canada ordered Du Luth to proceed 
to the present Detroit river, and watch whether the Eng- 
lish passed into Lake St. Clair. In accordance with the 
order, he left Mackinaw. Being provided with fifty 
armed men, he established a post called Fort St. Joseph, 
some thirty miles above Detroit. 

In the year 1687, on the 19th of May, the brave and 
distinguished Tonty, who was a cousin of Du Luth, 
arrived at Detroit, from his fort on the Illinois. Duran- 
taye and Du Luth, knowing that he had arrived, came 
down from Fort St. Joseph with thirty captive English. 
Here Tonty and Du Luth joined forces and proceeded 
toward the Iroquois country. As they were coasting 
Lake Erie, they met and captured Major McGregory, of 
Albany, then on his way with thirty Englishmen, to 
trade with the Indians at Mackinac. 

Du Luth having reached Lake Ontario, we find him 
engaged in that conflict with the Senecas of the Gene- 
see valley, when Father Angleran, the superintendent 
of the Mackinac mission, was severely but not mortally 



142 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



wounded.* After this battle, he returned, in company 
with Tonty, to his post on the Detroit river. 1 



1 Baron La Hon tan speaks of 
Grisolon de la Tourette being at 
Niagara in August, 1687, and calls 
him a brother of Du Luth. 

In 1689, immediately previous to 
the burning of Schenectady, we find 
him fighting the Iroquois in the 
neighbourhood, and there is reason 
to suppose that he was engaged in 
the midnight sack of that town. 
As late as the year 1696, he is on 
duty at Fort Frontenac ; but after 
the peace of Ryswick, which occa- 
sioned a suspension of hostilities, we 
hear but little more of this man, 
who was the first of whom we have 
any account, who came by way of 
Lake Superior to the upper Missis- 
sippi. 

The letter of one of the Jesuit 
fathers, shows that in some things 
he was as superstitious as the Dah- 
kotahs, with whom he once traded. 
While in command of Fort Fronte- 
nac, in 1696, he gave the following 
certificate : 

"I, the subscriber, certify to all 
vrhom it may concern, that having 



been tormented by the gout for the 
space of twenty-three years, and 
with such severe pains that it gave 
me no rest for the space of three 
months at a time, I addressed myself 
to Catherine Tegahkouita, an Iro- 
quois virgin, deceased at the Sault 
Saint Louis, in the reputation of 
sanctity, and I promised her to visit 
her tomb if God should give me 
health through her intercession. I 
have been so perfectly cured at the 
end of one novena which I made in 
her honour, that after five months I 
have not perceived the slightest 
touch of my gout. 

" Given at Fort Frontenac, this 
18th day of August, 1696. 

"J. De Luth, Capt. of the Marine 
Corps, Commander Fort Frontenac." 

He died in 1710. The despatch 
announcing the fact to the Home 
Government, is expressive in its sim- 
plicity : Capt. Du Luth is dead, " he 
was an honest man." Who would 
wish more said of him ? His name 
is spelled Du Luth, Du Lut, Dulhut, 
and De Luth, in the old documents. 



* Appendix P 



FORMAL OCCUPANCY OF MINNESOTA. 143 



CHAPTER VII. 

Eakly in 1689, Perrot, with a party of forty men, 
returned to his post at the Lake Pepin, and resumed 
trade with the Dahkotahs. The same year he formally 
claimed the country for France. 

The first official document pertaining to Minnesota is 
worthy of preservation, and thus reads : — 

" Nicholas Perrot, commanding for the King, at the 
post of the Nadouessioux, commissioned by the Marquis 
Denonville, Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of all 
New France, to manage the interests of commerce 
among all the Indian tribes, and people of the Bay des 
Puants, 1 Nadouessioux, 2 Mascoutins, and other western 
nations of the Upper Mississippi, and to take possession 
in the King's name of all the places where he has here- 
tofore been, and whither he will go. 

" We, this day, the eighth of May, one thousand six 
hundred and eighty-nine, do, in the presence of the 
Reverend Father Marest of the Society of Jesus, mis- 
sionary among the Nadouessioux ; of Monsieur de Borie- 

1 Green Bay, Wisconsin. 2 Dahkotahs. 



144 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

guillot, 1 commanding the French in the neighbourhood 
of the Ouiskonche 3 on the Mississippi ; Augustin Legar- 
denr, Esquire, Sieur de Caumont, and of Messieurs Le 
Sueur, Hebert, Lemire, and Blein : 

"Declare to all whom it may concern, that, being 
come from the Bay des Puants, and to the Lake of the 
Ouiskonches, and to the river Mississippi, we did trans- 
port ourselves to the country of the Nadouessioux, on 
the border of the river St. Croix, 3 and at the mouth of 
the river St. Pierre, 4 on the bank of which were the 
Mantantans; 5 and, farther up to the interior to the 
north-east of the Mississippi, as far as the Menchoka- 
tonx, 6 with whom dwell the majority of the Songes- 
kitons, and other Nadouessioux, who are to the north- 
east of the Mississippi, to take possession for, and in the 
name of the King, of the countries and rivers inhabited 

1 Charlevoix writes Boisguillot. cause they had their village on Rice 

2 Wisconsin, (Fort St. Nicholas,) Creek, a stream which empties into 
Ouiskonche, Mesconsing, Ouiscon- the Mississippi seven miles above 
sing, Wiskonsan, are some of the the Falls of St. Anthony. The sig- 
former spellings of this word. nification of the latter name is un- 

3 This is not ecclesiastical in its known. It is said that Ta-te-psin, 
associations, but named after Mons. Wa-su-wi-ea-xta-xni, Ta-can-rpi-sa- 
Saint Croix, who was drowned at its pa, A-nog-i-na jin, Ru-ya-pa, and Ta- 
mouth. — La Harpe's Louisiana. can-ku-wa-xte, whose names signify, 

* Nicollet supposes that this river respectively, Bounding-Wind, Bad- 
bore the name of Capt. St. Pierre. Hail, Black-Tomahawk, He-stands- 

5 The Dahkotahs have a tradition, both-sides, Eagle-Head, and Good- 

that a tribe called Onktokadan, who Road, are descendants of the Wa-kpa- 

lived on the St, Croix just above the a-ton-we-dan. — Wa-ku-te, Ta-o-ya-te- 

lake, was exterminated by the Foxes, du-ta, Ma-za-ro-ta, Ma-rpi-ya-ma-za, 

At an early date the Mde-wa-kan- Ma-rpi-wi-ca-xta, and Xa-kpe-dan, 
ton- wan division of the Dahkotah are said to be Ma-tan-ton-wans. The 
tribe split into two parties, one of respective signification of their names 
which was denominated Wa-kpa-a- is as follows : Shooter, His-scarlet- 
ton-we-dan, and the other Ma-tan- people, Grey-Iron, Iron-Cloud, Sky- 
ton-wan. The former name signifies, Man, and Little-six. 
— Those-who-dwell-on-the-creek, be- 6 M'daywawkawntwawns. 



FORT AT LAKE PEPIN. 145 

by the said tribes, and of which they are proprietors. 
The present act done in our presence, signed with our 
hand and subscribed." 1 

The first French establishment in Minnesota was on 
Me Mississippi river, above the entrance of Lake 
Pepin 2 . On a map of the year 1700, it was 
called Fort Bon Secours ; three years later it was marked 
Fort Le Sueur, and abandoned ; 3 but in a much later 
map it is correctly called Fort Perrot. 4 

The year that Perrot visited Minnesota, Frontenac, 
who had been recalled seven years before, was recom- 
missioned as Governor of Canada. He issued orders 
that the Frenchmen in the upper Mississippi country 
should return to Mackinaw. 

Frontenac was dogmatic and overbearing, though 
deeply interested in the extension of the power of 
France. During the first term of office he had opposed 
the ecclesiastics, who deplored the ill effects of rum 
and licentious " coureurs des bois" upon the morals of 
the savages, and desired both excluded from the country. 
He had no interest in Christianity, and still less confi- 
dence in the Jesuits. In a communication to the 
government he bluntly said, to Colbert the minister, 
" To speak frankly to you, they think as much about 
the conversion of beavers as of souls. The majority of 
their missions are mere mockeries." 

Learning that Durantaye, the Commandant at Macki- 

1 Then are given the names of 2 Bellin's description of Map of 

those already mentioned. This re- North America, 

cord was drawn up at Fort St. 3 De l'Isle's Maps 1700, and 1703 

Antoine Lake Pepin This last name appears incorrect 



See Jeffery's Map, 1762. 



10 



146 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

naw, was disposed to be friendly to missionary schemes, 
he superseded him by the appointment of Louvigny. 

Perrot, who was on a visit to Montreal, conducted 
the new commander to his post, where he found the 
Ottawas wavering, and about to carry their peltries to 
the English; but by his uncommon tact he regained 
their confidence, and a flotilla of one hundred canoes, 
with furs valued at one hundred thousand crowns, 
started towards Montreal. 

On the eighteenth of August, 1690, the citizens of that 
city perceived the waters of the Saint Lawrence dark- 
ened by descending canoes, and supposing that they 
were filled by the dreaded Iroquois, alarm-guns were 
fired to call in the citizens from the country ; but this 
terror was soon turned to joy, by a messenger arriving 
with the intelligence that it was a party of five hundred 
Indians, of various tribes near Mackinaw, who had 
come to the city to exchange their peltries. So large 
a number from the North- West had not appeared for 
years ; and, on the twenty-fifth, Count Frontenac gave 
them a grand feast of two oxen, six large dogs, two 
barrels of wine, and some prunes, with a plentiful 
supply of tobacco. 

The Ottawas in council demanded the meaning of the 
hatchet Perrot had hung in their cabin. 

Frontenac told them that they were aware of the 
tidings he had received, that a powerful army was com- 
ing to ravage his country ; that all that was necessary 
to conclude was the mode of proceeding, whether to go 
and meet this army, or to wait for it with a firm foot ; 
that he put into their hands the hatchet which had been 
formerly given them, and had since been kept suspended 



LONG DESIRED PELTRIES ARRIVE AT MONTREAL. 147 

for them, and he doubted not they would make good 
use of it. 

He then, hatchet in hand, sung the war song, in 
which the Indians joined. 

The increasing Iroquois and English hostility made 
it a dangerous undertaking to transport in canoes to or 
from Mackinaw. 

Lieutenant D'Argenteuil was despatched by Frontenac 
in 1692, with eighteen Canadians on increased pay to 
Mackinaw, with an order to Louvigny, the commander, 
to send down all the Frenchmen that could be spared 
from the North- West, and the large amount of peltries 
that had accumulated at his post. 

On the seventeenth of August two hundred canoes 
filled with Frenchmen and Ottawas arrived from the 
upper country at Montreal with the. long-detained furs. 

" The merchant, the farmer, and other individuals who 
might have some peltries there, were dying of hunger, 
with property they could not enjoy. Credit was ex- 
hausted, and the apprehension universal that the Eng- 
lish might seize this last resource of the country while 
it was on the way. Terms sufficiently strong were net 
to be found to praise and bless him by whose care so 
much property had arrived." 1 

The Indians were entertained at the governor's table, 
and on Sunday, the sixth of September, there was a 
grand war dance. The next day they received presents, 
and during the week returned to their own country. 

The French soon followed under the direction of 
Tonty, Commandant of the Illinois. La Motte Cadil- 
lac, and D'Argenteuil shortly after were ordered to 
Mackinaw, Louvigny being recalled. Perrot was sta- 

1 Paris Doc. vol. ix. N. Y. Col. Hist. 



148 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

iioned among the Miamis, at a place called " Malamek," 
in Michigan ; and Le Sueur was sent to La Pointe of 
Lake Superior to maintain the peace that had just been 
concluded between the Ojibways and Dahkotahs. 

The mission of Le Sueur was important. As the 
Foxes and Mascoutins had become inimical, the north- 
ern route to the Dahkotahs was the only one that could 
be used in transporting goods. 

In the year 1695, the second post in Minnesota was 
built by Le Sueur. Above Lake Pepin, and below the 
mouth of the St. Croix, there are many islands, and the 
largest of these was selected as the site. 1 The object 
of the establishment was to interpose a barrier between 
the Dahkotahs and Ojibways, and maintain the peaceful 
relations which had been created. Charlevoix speaks 
of the island as having a very beautiful prairie, and 
remarks that " the French of Canada have made it a 
centre of commerce for the western parts, and many 
pass the winter here, because it is a good country" for 
hunting." 

On the fifteenth of July, Le Sueur arrived at Mon- 
treal with a party of Ojibways, and the first Dahkotah 
brave that had ever visited Canada. 

The Indians were much impressed with the power 
of France by the marching of a detachment of seven 
hundred picked men, under Chevalier Cresafi, who were 
on their way to La Chine. 

On the eighteenth, Frontenac, in the presence of 
Callieres and other persons of distinction, gave them an 
audience. 

The first speaker was the chief of the Ojibway band 
at La Pointe, Shingowahbay, who said : — 

1 Bellin in his description of the Chart of North America. 



OJIBWAY AND DAHKOTAH CHIEFS' SPEECH. 149 

" That he was come to pay his respects to Onontio. 1 
in the name of the young warriors of Point Chagoua 
migon, and to thank him for having given them some 
Frenchmen to dwell with them ; to testify their sorrow 
for one Jobin, a Frenchman, who was killed at a feast 
accidentally, and not maliciously. We come to ask a 
favour of you, which is to let us act. We are allies of 
the Sciou. Some Outagamies or Mascoutins have been 
killed. The Sciou came to mourn with us. Let us act, 
Father; let us take revenge. 

"Le Sueur alone, who is acquainted with the lan- 
guage of the one and the other, can serve us. We ask 
that he return with us." 

Another speaker of the Ojibways was Le Brochet. 

Teeoskahtay, the. Dahkotah chief, before he spoke, 
spread out a beaver robe, and laying another with a 
tobacco pouch and otter skin, began to weep bitterly. 
After drying his tears he said : — 

"All of the nations had a father who afforded them 
protection ; all of them have iron. But he was a bas- 
tard in quest of a father ; he was come to see him, and 
begs that he will take pity on him." 

He then placed upon the beaver robe twenty-two 
arrows, at each arrow naming a Dahkotah village that 
desired Frontenac's protection. Resuming his speech, 
he remarked : — 

" It is not on account of what I bring that I hope he 
who rules this earth will have pity on me. I learned 
from the Sauteurs that he wanted nothing ; that he was 
the Master of the Iron ; that he had a big heart, into 
which he could receive all the nations. This has 

1 The title the Indians always gave to the Governor. 



150 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

induced me to abandon my people to come to seek his 
protection, and to beseech him to receive me among the 
number of his children. Take courage, Great Captain, 
and reject me not; despise me not though I appear poor 
in your eyes. All the nations here present know that 
I am rich, and the little they offer here is taken from 
my lands.'" 

Count Frontenac in reply told the chief that he would 
receive the Dahkotahs as his children, on condition that 
they would be obedient, and that he would send back 
Le Sueur with him. 

Teeoskahtay, taking hold of the governor's knees, 
wept, and said : — " Take pity on us ; we are well aware 
that we are not able to speak, being children ; but Le 
Sueur, who understands our language, and has seen all 
our villages, will next year inform you what will have 
been achieved by the Sioux nations, represented by 
those arrows before you." 

Having finished, a Dahkotah woman, the wife of a 
great chief whom Le Sueur had purchased from captivity 
at Mackinaw, approached those in authority, and with 
downcast eyes embraced their knees, weeping and say- 
ing :— 

" I thank thee, Father ; it is by thy means I have 
been liberated, and am no longer captive." 

Then Teeoskahtay resumed : — 

" I speak like a man penetrated with joy. The Great 
Captain ; he who is the Master of the Iron, assures me 
of his protection, and I promise him that if he conde- 
scends to restore my children, now prisoners among the 
Foxes, Ottawas, and Hurons, I will return hither, and 
bring with me the twenty-two villages whom he has just 
restored to life by promising to send them Iron.'' 



DAHKOTAH CHIEF DIES IN CANADA. 151 

On the 14 th of August, two weeks after the Ojibway 
chief left for his home on Lake Superior, Nicholas Per- 
rot arrived with a deputation of Sauks, Foxes, Meno- 
monees, Miamis of Maaramek, and Pottowattamies. 

Two days after, they had a council with the governor, 
who thus spoke to a Fox brave : — 

" I see that you are a young man ; your nation has 
quite turned away from my wishes ; it has pillaged 
some of my young men, whom it has treated as slaves. 
I know that your father, who loved the French, had no 
hand in the indignity. You only imitate the example 
of your father, who had sense, when you do not co- 
operate with those of your tribe who are wishing to go 
over to my enemies, after they grossly insulted me, and 
defeated the Sioux, whom I now consider my son. I 
pity the Sioux ; I pity the dead whose loss I deplore. 
Perrot goes up there, and he will speak to your nation 
from me, for the release of their prisoners; let them 
attend to him." 

Teeoskahtay never returned to his native land. 
While in Montreal he was taken sick, and in thirty- 
three days he ceased to breathe ; and, followed by white 
men, his body was interred in the white man's grave. 

Le Sueur, instead of going back to Minnesota that 
year, as was expected, went to France, and received 
a license, in 1697, to open certain mines supposed 
to exist in Minnesota. The ship in which he was 
returning, was captured by the English, and he was 
taken to England. After his release, he went back to 
France, and, in 1698, obtained a new commission for 
mining. 

While Le Sueur was in Europe, the Dahkotahs 
waged war against the Foxes and Miamis. In retalia- 



152 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

tion, the latter raised a war party, and entered the land 
of the Dahkotahs. Finding their foes intrenched, and 
assisted by " coureurs des bois," they were indignant ; 
and on their return they had a skirmish with some 
Frenchmen, who were carrying goods to the Dahko- 
tahs. 

Shortly after, they met Perrot, and were about to 
burn him to death, when prevented by some friendly 
Foxes. The Miamis, after this, were disposed to be 
friendly to the Iroquois. In 1696, the year previous, 
the authorities at Quebec decided that it was expedient 
to abandon all the posts west of Mackinaw, and with- 
draw the French from Wisconsin and Minnesota. 

The "voyageurs" were not disposed to leave the 
country, and the governor wrote to Pontchartrain for 
instructions, in October, 1698. In his despatch he 
remarks : — 

"In this conjuncture, and under all these circum- 
stances, we consider it our duty to postpone, until new 
instructions from the court, the execution of Sieur Le 
Sueur's enterprise for the mines, though the promise 
had already been given him to send two canoes in 
advance to Missilimackinac, for the purpose of pur- 
chasing there some provisions and other necessaries for 
his voyage, and that he would be permitted to go and 
join them early in the spring with the rest of his hands. 
What led us to adopt this resolution has been, that the 
French who remained to trade off with the Five Na- 
tions the remainder of their merchandise, might, on 
seeing entirely new comers arriving there, consider 
themselves entitled to dispense with coming down, and 
perhaps adopt the resolution to settle there; whilst, 
seeing no arrival there, with permission to do what is 



LE SUEUR'S LICENSE TO MINE REVOKED. 153 

forbidden, the reflection they will be able to make 
during the winter, and the apprehension of being guilty 
of crime, may oblige them to return in the spring. 

" This would be very desirable, in consequence of the 
great difficulty there will be in constraining them to it, 
should they be inclined to lift the mask altogether and 
become buccaneers; or should Sieur Le Sueur, as he 
easily could do, furnish them with goods for their 
beaver and smaller peltry, which he might send down 
bv the return of other Frenchmen, whose sole desire is 
to obey, and who have remained only beeause of the 
impossibility of getting their effects down. This would 
rather induce those who would continue to lead a vaga- 
bond life to remain there, as the goods they would 
obtain from Le Sueur's people would afford them the 
means of doing so." 

In reply to this communication, Louis XIV. answered 
that — 

" His majesty has approved that the late Sieur de 
Frontenac and De Champigny, suspended the execution 
of the license granted to the man named Le Sueur to 
pxoceed, with fifty men, to explore some mines on the 
bfiiks of the Mississippi. He has revoked said license, 
and desires that the said Le Sueur, or any other person, 
be prevented from leaving the colony on pretence of 
going in search of mines, without his majesty's express 
permission." 

Le Sueur, undaunted by these drawbacks to the pro- 
secution of a favourite project, again visited France, but 
ill December, 1699, he returned to Louisiana. 



154 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Upon the recommendation of the Governor of 
Louisiana, Le Sueur, with Penicaut, an intelligent ship- 
carpenter, and about twenty others, went to search for 
copper alleged to be in the Sioux country.* 

On the thirteenth of July, 1700, with a felucca, two 
canoes, and nineteen men, having ascended the Missis- 
sippi, he had reached the mouth of the Missouri, and 
six leagues above this he passed the Illinois. He there 
met three Canadians, who came to join him, with a 
letter from Father Marest, who had once attempted a 
mission among the Dahkotahs, dated July 13, Mission 
Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin, in Illinois. 

" I have the honour to write, in order to inform you 
that the Saugiestas have been defeated by the Scioux and 
Ayavois (Iowas). The people have formed an alliance 
with the Quincapous (Kickapoos), some of the Mecou- 
tins, Renards (Foxes), and Metesigamias, and gone to 
revenge themselves, not on the Scioux, for they are too 
much afraid of them, but perhaps on the Ayavois, or 
very likely upon the Paoutees, or more probably upon 

* Appendix G 



LE SUEUR MEETS A WAR PARTY. 155 

the Osages, for these suspect nothing, and the others 
are on their guard. 

" As you will probably meet these allied nations, you 
ought to take precaution against their plans, and not 
allow them to board your vessel, since they are traitors, 
and utterly faithless. I pray God to accompany you in 
all your designs." 

Twenty-two leagues above the Illinois, he passed a 
small stream which he called the Kiver of Oxen, and 
nine leagues beyond this he passed a small river on the 
west side, where he met four Canadians descending the 
Mississippi, on their way to the Illinois. On the 30th 
of July, nine leagues above the last-named river, he 
met seventeen Scioux, in seven canoes, who were going 
to revenge the death of three Scioux, one of whom had 
been burned, and the others killed, at Tamarois, a few 
days before his arrival in that village. As he had pro- 
mised the chief of the Illinois to appease the Scioux, who 
should go to war against his nation, he made a present 
to the chief of the party to engage him to turn back. 
He told them the King of France did not wish them to 
make this river more bloody, and that he was sent to 
tell them that, if they obeyed the king's word, they 
would receive in future all things necessary for them. 
The chief answered that he accepted the present, that 
is to say, that he would do as had been told him. 

From the 30th of July to the 25th of August, Le 
Sueur advanced fifty-three and one-fourth leagues to a 
small river which he called the River of the Mine. 1 At 
the mouth it runs from the north, but it turns to the 
north-east. On the right seven leagues, there is a lead 

1 This is tne first mention of the Galena mines. 



156 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

mine in a prairie, one and a half leagues ; the river is 
only navigable in high water, that is to say, from early 
spring till the month of June. 

From the 25th to the 27th he made ten leagues, 
passed two small rivers, and made himself acquainted 
with a mine of lead, from which he took a supply. 
From the 27th to the 30th he made eleven and a half 
leagues, and met five Canadians, one of whom had 
been dangerously wounded in the head. They were 
naked, and had no ammunition except a miserable gun, 
with five or six loads of powder and balls. They said 
they were descending from the Scioux to go to Tama- 
rois ; and, when seventy leagues above, they perceived 
nine canoes in the Mississippi, in which were ninety 
savages, who robbed and cruelly beat them. This party 
were going to war against the Scioux, and were com- 
posed of four different nations, the Outagamis (Foxes), 
Saquis (Sauks), Poutouwatamis (Pottowattamies) , and 
Pauns (Winnebagoes), who dwell in a country eighty 
leagues east of the Mississippi from where Le Sueur 
then was. 

The Canadians determined to follow the detachment, 
which was composed of twenty-eight men. This day 
they made seven and a half leagues. On the 1st of Sep- 
tember, he passed the Wisconsin river. It runs into the 
Mississippi from the north-east. It is nearly one and 
a half miles wide. At about seventy-five leagues up 
this river, on the right, ascending, there is a portage of 
more than a league. The half of this portage is shaking 
ground, and at the end of it is a small river which 
descends into a bay called Winnebago Bay. It is in- 
habited by a great number of nations who carry their 
furs to Canada. Monsieur Le Sueur came by the W is- 



DAHKOTAHS ROBBED CANADIANS. 157 

consin river to the Mississippi, for the first time, in 
1683, on his way to the Scioux country, where he had 
already passed seven years at different periods. The 
Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the Wisconsin, is less 
than a half mile wide. From the 1st of September to 
the 5th, our voyageur advanced fourteen leagues. He 
passed the river " Aux Canots," which comes from the 
north-east, and then the Quincapous, named from a 
nation which once dwelt upon its banks. 

From the 5th to the 9 th, he made ten and a half 
leagues, and passed the Kivers Cachee and Aux Ailes. 
The same day he perceived canoes, filled with savages, 
descending the river, and the five Canadians recognised 
them as the party who had robbed them. They placed 
sentinels in the wood, for fear of being surprised by 
land ; and, when they had approached within hearing, 
they cried to them that if they approached farther 
they would fire. They then drew up by an island, at 
half the distance of a gun shot. Soon, four of the 
principal men of the band approached in a canoe, and 
asked if it was forgotten that they were our brethren, 
and with what design we had taken arms when we 
perceived them. Le Sueur replied that he had cause 
to distrust them, since they had robbed five of his 
party. Nevertheless, for the surety of his trade, being 
forced to be at peace with all the tribes, he demanded 
no redress for the robbery, but added merely that the 
king, their master and his, wished that his subjects 
should navigate that river without insult, and that 
they had better beware how they acted. 

The Indian who had spoken was silent, but another 
said they had been attacked by the Scioux, and that if 
they did not have pity on them, and give them a little 



158 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

powder, they should not be able to reach their village. 
The consideration of a missionary, who was to go up 
among the Scioux, and whom these savages might meet, 
induced them to give two pounds of powder. 

M. Le Sueur made the same day three leagues ; passed 
a stream on the west, and afterwards another river on 
the east, which is navigable at all times, and which the 
Indians call Red river. 

On the 10th, at daybreak, they heard an elk whistle, 
on the other side of the river. \A Canadian crossed in 
a small Scioux canoe, which they had found, and shortly 
returned with the body of the animal, which was very 
easily killed, " quand il est en rut," that is from the be- 
ginning of September until the end of October. The 
hunters at this time make a whistle of a piece of wood, 
or reed, and when they hear an elk whistle, they answer 
it. The animal, believing it to be another elk, ap- 
proaches, and is killed with ease. 

From the 10th to the 14th, M. Le Sueur made seven- 
teen and a half leagues, passing the rivers Raisin and 
Paquilenettes, (perhaps the Wazi Ozu and Buffalo.) 
The same day he left, on the east side of the Missis- 
sippi, a beautiful and large river, which descends from 
the very far north, and called Bon Secours (Chippeway), 
on account of the great quantity of buffalo, elk, bears, 
and deers, which are found there. Three leagues up 
this river there is a mine of lead, and seven leagues 
above, on the same side, they found another long river, 
in the vicinity of which there is a copper mine, from 
which he had taken a lump of sixty pounds, in a former 
voyage. In order to make these mines of any account, 
peace must be obtained between the Scioux and Outa- 
gamis (Foxes), because the latter, who dwell on the 



LAKE PEPIN.— CANNON RIVER. 159 

east side of the Mississippi, pass this road continually 
when going to war against the Scioux. 

In this region, at one and a half leagues on the north- 
west side, commenced a lake, which is six leagues long 
and more than one broad, called Lake Pepin. It is 
bounded on the west by a chain of mountains ; on the 
east is seen a prairie; and on the north-west of the 
lake there is another prairie two leagues long and one 
wide. In the neighbourhood is a chain of mountains 
quite two hundred feet high, and more than one and a 
half miles long. In these are found several caves, to 
which the bears retire in winter. Most of the caverns 
are more than seventy feet in extent, and three or four 
feet high. There are several of which the entrance is 
very narrow, and quite closed up with saltpetre. It 
would be dangerous to enter them in summer, for they 
are filled with rattlesnakes, the bite of which is very 
dangerous. Le Sueur saw some of these snakes which 
were six feet in length, but generally they are about 
four feet. They have teeth resembling those of the 
pike, and their gums are full of small vessels in which 
their poison is placed. The Scioux say they take it 
every morning, and cast it away at night. They have 
at the tail a kind of scale which makes a noise, and this 
is called the rattle. 

Le Sueur made on this day seven and a half leagues, 
and passed another river called Hiambouxecate Ouataba, 
or the River of Flat Rock. 1 

On the" 15th he crossed a small river, and saw. in 
the neighbourhood, several canoes filled with Indians, 
descending the Mississippi. He supposed they were 

1 This is evidently the Inyanbosndata, or Cannon river. 



160 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Scioux, because he could not distinguish whether their 
canoes were large or small. The arms were placed in 
readiness, and soon they heard the cry of the savages, 
which they are accustomed to raise when they rush 
upon their enemies. He caused them to be answered 
in the same manner; and, after having placed all the 
men behind the trees, he ordered them not to fire until 
they were commanded. He remained on shore to see 
what movement the savages would make, and perceiving 
that they placed two on shore, on the other side, where 
from an eminence they could ascertain the strength of 
his forces, he caused the men to pass and repass from 
the shore to the wood, in order to make them believe 
that they were numerous. This ruse succeeded, for as 
soon as the two descended from the eminence, the chief 
of the party came, bearing the calumet, which is a signal 
of peace among the Indians. 

They said, that never having seen the French navi- 
gate the river with boats like the felucca, 1 they had 
supposed them to be English, and for that reason they 
had raised the war cry, and arranged themselves on the 
other side of the Mississippi; but, having recognised 
their flag, they had come without fear to inform them, 
that one of their number, who was crazy, had acci- 
dentally killed a Frenchman, and that they would go 
and bring his comrade, who would tell how the mischief 
had happened. 

The Frenchman they brought was Denis, a Canadian, 
and he reported that his companion was accidentally 
killed. His name was Laplace, a deserting soldier from 
Canada, who had taken refuge in this country. 

1 The felucca is a small vessel had never before been seen on the 
propelled both by oars and sails, and waters of the Upper Mississippi. 



ST. CROIX DROWNED.— RIVER ST. PIERRE. 161 

Le Sueur replied, that Onontio (the name they give 
to all the governors of Canada), being their father and 
his, they ought not to seek justification elsewhere than 
before him ; and he advised them to go and see him as 
soon as possible, and beg him to wipe off the blood of 
this Frenchman from their faces. 

The party was composed of forty-seven men of dif- 
ferent nations, who dwell far to the east, about the 
forty-fourth degree of latitude. Le Sueur, discovering 
who the chiefs were, said the king whom they had 
spoken of in' Canada, had sent him to take possession 
of the north of the river; and that he wished the 
nations who dwell on it, as well as those under his pro- 
tection, to live in peace. 

He made this day three and three-fourth leagues ; 
and, on the 16th of September, he left a large river on 
the east side, named St. Croix, because a Frenchman of 
that name was shipwrecked at its mouth. It comes from 
the north-north-west. Four leagues higher, in going 
up, is found a small lake, at the mouth of which is a 
very large mass of copper. It is on the edge of the 
water, in a small ridge of sandy earth, on the west of 
this lake. 

From the 16th to the 19th, he advanced thirteen and 
three-fourth leagues. After having made from Tamarois 
two hundred and nine and a half leagues, he left the 
navigation of the Mississippi, to enter the river St. 
Pierre, 1 on the west side. By the 1st of October, he 

1 The Saint Pierre, like the Saint and prominent in the Indian affairs 

Croix, just below it, was possibly in that age. Carver, in 1776, on 

named after a Frenchman. Charle- the shores of Lake Pepin, discovered 

voix speaks of an officer by that the ruins of an extensive trading 

name, who was at Mackinaw in 1692, post, that had been under the control 
11 



162 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

had made in this river forty-four and one-fourth leagues. 
After he entered into Blue river, thus named on account 
of the mines of blue earth found at its mouth, he founded 
his post, situated in forty-four degrees, thirteen minutes, 
north latitude. He met at this place nine Scioux, 1 who 
told him that the river belonged to the Scioux of the 
West, the Ayavois (Iowas), and Otoctatas (Ottoes), who 
lived a little farther off; that it was not their custom to 
hunt on ground belonging to others, unless invited to 
do so by the owners, and that when they would come 
to the fort to obtain provisions, they would be in danger 
of being killed in ascending or descending the rivers, 
which were narrow, and that if they would show their 
pity, he must establish himself on the Mississippi, near the 
mouth of the St. Pierre? where the Ayavois, the Otocta- 
tas, and the other Scioux, could go as well as they. 

Having finished their speech, they leaned over the 
head of Le Sueur, according to their custom, crying out, 
" Ouaechissou ouaepanimanabo," that is to say, " Have 
pity upon us." Le Sueur had foreseen that the esta- 
blishment of Blue Earth river, would not please the 
Scioux of the East, who were, so to speak, masters of the 
other Scioux, and of the nations which will be hereafter 
mentioned, because they were the first with whom trade 
was commenced, and in consequence of which they had 
already quite a number of guns. 

As he had commenced his operations, not only 
with a view to the trade of beaver, but also to gain a 



of a Captain Saint Pierre, and some Lahontan, Le Sueur, and the Jesuits 

have asserted that Le Sueur of that period in their relations, and 

named the Minnesota river in honour it has not been altered to Dahkotah 

of his fellow explorer and trader. in this chapter. 

1 Scioux, is th i orthography of 2 Neighbourhood of Mendota. 



DAHKOTAHS OF THE PLAINS. 163 

knowledge of the mines, which he had previously dis- 
covered, he told them he was sorry that he had not 
known their intentions sooner; and that it was just, 
since he came expressly for them, that he should esta- 
blish himself on their land, but that the season was too 
far advanced for him to return. He then made them a 
present of powder, balls, and knives, and an armful of 
tobacco, to entice them to assemble as soon as possible, 
near the fort which he was about to construct, that 
when they should be all assembled he might tell them 
the intention of the king, their and his sovereign. 

The Scioux of the West, according to the statement 
of the Eastern Scioux, have more than a thousand 
lodges. They do not use canoes, nor cultivate the 
earth, nor gather wild rice. They remain generally in 
the prairies, which are between the Upper Mississippi 
and Missouri rivers, and live entirely by the chase. 
The Scioux generally say they have three souls, and 
that after death, that which has done well goes to the 
warm country, that which has done evil to the cold 
regions, and the other guards the body. Polygamy is 
common among them. They are very jealous, and 
sometimes fight in duel for their wives. They manage 
the bow admirably, and have been seen several times to 
kill ducks on the wing. They make their lodges of a 
number of buffalo skins interlaced and sewed, and carry 
them wherever they go. They are all great smokers, 
but their manner of smoking differs from that of other 
Indians. There are some Scioux who swallow all the 
smoke of the tobacco, and others who, after having kept 
it some time in their mouth, cause it to issue from the 
nose. In each lodge there are usually two or three 
men with their families. 



161 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

On the third of October, they received at the fort 
several Scioux, among whom was Wahkantape, chief 
of the village. Soon two Canadians arrived who had 
been hunting, and had been robbed by the Scioux of 
the East, who had raised their guns against the esta- 
blishment which M. Le Sueur had made on Blue Earth 
river. 

On the fourteenth the fort was finished and named 
Fort L'Huillier, 1 and on the twenty-second two Cana- 
dians were sent out to invite the Ayavois and Otoctatas 
to come and establish a village near the fort, because 
these Indians are industrious and accustomed to culti- 
vate the earth, and they hoped to get provisions from 
them, and to make them work in the mines. 

On the twenty-fourth, six Scioux Oujalespoitons 
wished to go into the fort, but were told that they did 
not receive men who had killed Frenchmen. This is 
the term used when they have insulted them. The 
next day they came to the lodge of Le Sueur to beg 
him to have pity on them. They wished, according to 
custom, to weep over his head and make him a present 
of packs of beavers, which he refused. He told them 
he was surprised that people who had robbed should 
come to him ; to which they replied that they had heard 
it said that two Frenchmen had been robbed, but none 
from their village had been present at that wicked 
action. 

Le Sueur answered, that he knew it was the Men- 
deoucantons and not the Oujalespoitons; "but," con- 
tinued he, " you are Scioux ; it is the Scioux who have 
robbed me, and if I were to follow your manner oi 

1 The farmer general at Paris who had encouraged Le Sueur in his pro- 
jects. 




0>N ©FA CHA 




WILLIAM f)E L T ISLE 



Roy a J Ac a dern y of Sci en c es 



LE SUEUR FILLS CANOES WITH BLUE EARTH. 165 

acting, I should break your heads ; for is it not true, 
that when a stranger (it is thus they call the Indians 
who are not Scioux) has insulted a Scioux, Mendeou- 
canton, Oujalespoitons, or others — all the villages re- 
venge upon the first one they meet ?" 

As they had nothing to answer to what he said to 
them, they wept and repeated, according to custom, 
" Ouaechissou ! ouaepanimanabo !" Le Sueur told them 
to cease crying, and added, that the French had good 
hearts, and that they had come into the country to have 
pity on them. At the same time he made them a pre- 
sent, saying to them, " Carry back your beavers and 
say to all the Scioux, that they will have from me no 
more powder or lead, and they will no longer smoke 
any long pipe until they have made satisfaction for rob- 
bing the Frenchman." 

The same day the Canadians, who had been sent off 
on the 22d, arrived without having found the road 
which led to the Ayavois and Otoctatas. On the 25th 
Le Sueur went to the river with three canoes, which 
he rilled with green and blue earth. 1 It is taken from 
the hills near which are very abundant mines of copper, 
some of w T hich was worked at Paris in 1696 by L'Huil- 
lier, one of the chief collectors of the king. Stones were 
also found there, which would be curious, if worked. 

On the 9 th of November, eight Mantanton Scioux 
arrived, who had been sent by their chiefs to say that 
the Mendeoucantons were still at their lake on the east of 
4 he Mississippi, and they could not come for a long time ; 
and that, for a single village which had no good sense, 

1 The locality was a branch of the river, and on a map published in 
Blue Earth, about a mile above the 1773, the river St. Remi. 
fort, called by Nicollet Le Sueur 



166 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the others ought not to bear the punishment ; and that 
they were willing to make reparation if they knew how. 
Le Sueur replied that he was glad that they had a dis- 
position to do so. 

On the 15th the two Mantanton Scioux, who had 
been sent expressly to say that all of the Scioux of the 
east, and part of those of the west, were joined together 
to come to the French, because they had heard that the 
Christianaux and the Assinipoils were making war on 
them. These two nations dwell above the fort on the 
east side, more than eighty leagues on the Upper Mis- 
sissippi. 

The Assinipoils speak Scioux, and are certainly of 
that nation. It is only a few years since that they be- 
came enemies. The enmity thus originated : The Chris- 
tianaux, having the use of arms before the Scioux, 
through the English at Hudson's Bay, they constantly 
warred upon the Assinipoils, who were their nearest 
neighbours. The latter, being weak, sued for peace, 
and to render it more lasting, married the Christianaux 
women. The other Scioux, who had not made the com- 
pact, continued the war ; and, seeing some Christianaux 
with the Assinipoils, broke their heads. The Chris- 
tianaux furnished the Assinipoils with arms and mer- 
chandise. 

On the 16 th the Scioux returned to their village, and 
it was reported that the Ayavois and Otoctatas were 
gone to establish themselves towards the Missouri river, 
near the Maha, who dwell in that region. On the 26th 
the Mantantons and Oujalespoitons arrived at the fort; 
and, after they had encamped in the woods, Wahkan- 
tape 1 came to beg Le Sueur to go to his lodge. He 

1 Wakandapi or Esteemed Sacred, was the name of one of the head nieu 
at Red Wing, in 1850. 



WEEP OVER. THE DEATH OF TEEOSKAIITAY. 107 

there found sixteen men with women and children, 
with their faces daubed with black. In the middle of 
the lodge were several buffalo skins, which were sewed 
for a carpet. After motioning him to sit down, they 
wept for the fourth of an hour, and the chief gave him 
some wild rice to eat (as was their custom) , putting the 
first three spoonsful to his mouth. After which, he said 
all present were relatives of Tioscate, 1 whom Le Sueur 
took to Canada in 1695, and who died there in 1696. 

At the mention of Tioscate they began to weep again, 
and wipe their tears and heads upon the shoulders of 
Le Sueur. Then Wahkantape again spoke, and said that 
Tioscate begged him to forget the insult done to the 
Frenchmen by the Mendeoucantons, and take pity on 
his brethren by giving them powder and balls whereby r 
they could defend themselves, and gain a living for their 
wives and children, who languish in a country, full of 
game, because they had not the means of killing them. 
" Look," added the chief, " Behold thy children, thy 
brethren, and thy sisters ; it is to thee to see whether 
thou wishest them to die. They will live if thou gives t 
them powder and ball ; they will die if thou refusest." 

Le Sueur granted them their request, but as the 
Scioux never answer on the spot, especially in matters 
of importance, and as he had to speak to them about 
his establishment, 4ie went out of the lodge without 
saying a word. The chief and all those within followed 
him as far as the door of the fort ; and when he had 
gone in, they went around it three times, crying with 
all their strength, " Atheouanan !" that is to say, 
" Father, have pity on us." (Ate unyanpi, means Our 
Father.) 

1 Teeoskahtay. 



168 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

The next day, he assembled in the fort the principal 
men of both villages ; and as it is not possible to subdue 
the Scioux or to hinder them from going to Avar, unless 
it be by inducing them to cultivate the earth, he said to 
them that if they wished to render themselves worthy 
of the protection of the king, they must abandon their 
erring life, and form a village near his dwelling, where 
they would be shielded from the insults of their ene- 
mies ; and that they might be happy and not hungry, 
he would give them all the corn necessary to plant a 
large piece of ground ; that the king, their and his chief, 
in sending him, had forbidden him to purchase beaver 
skins, knowing that this kind of hunting separates them 
and exposes them to their enemies ; and that in conse- 
quence of this he had come to establish himself on Blue 
river and vicinity, where they had many times assured 
him were many kinds of beasts, for the skins of which 
he would give them all things necessary; that they 
ought to reflect that they could not do without French 
goods, and that the only way not to want them was, not 
to go to war with our allied nations. 

As it is customary with the Indians to accompany 
their word with a present proportioned to the affair 
treated of, he gave them fifty pounds of powder, as many 
balls, six guns, ten axes, twelve armsful of tobacco, and 
a hatchet pipe. 

On the first of December, the Mantantons invited Le 
Sueur to a great feast. Of four of their lodges they 
had made one, in which were one hundred men seated 
around, and every one his dish before him. After the 
meal, Wahkantape, the chief, made them all smoke one 
after another in the hatchet pipe which had been given 
them. He then made a present to Le Sueur of a slave 



M'DEWAKANTONWAN CHIEFS AT BLUE EARTH FORT. 169 

and a sack of wild rice, and said to him, showing him 
his men : " Behold the remains of this great village, 
which thou hast aforetimes seen so numerous ! all the 
others have been killed in war ; and the few men whom 
thou seest in this lodge, accept the present thou hast 
made them, and are resolved to obey the great chief of 
all nations, of whom thou hast spoken to us. Thou 
oughtest not to regard us as Scioux, but as French, and 
instead of saying the Scioux are miserable, and have no 
mind, and are fit for nothing but to rob and steal from 
the French, thou shalt say my brethren are miserable 
and have no mind, and we must try to procure some for 
them. They rob us, but I will take care that they do 
not lack iron, that is to say, all kinds of goods. If 
thou dost this, I assure thee that in a little time, the 
Mantantons will become Frenchmen, and they will have 
none of those vices with which thou reproachest us." 

Having finished his speech, he covered his face with 
his garment, and the others imitated him. They wept 
over their companions who had died in war, and chanted 
an adieu to their country in a tone so gloomy, that one 
could not keep from partaking of their sorrow. 

Wahkantape then made them smoke again, and dis- 
tributed the presents, and said that he was going to the 
Mendeoucantons, to inform them of the resolution, and 
invite them to do the same. i 

On the twelfth, three Mendeoucanton chiefs and a 
large number of Indians of the same village, arrived at 
the fort, and the next day gave satisfaction for robbing 
the Frenchmen. They brought 400 pounds of beaver 
skins, and promised that the summer following, after 
their canoes were built and they had gathered their wild 
rice, that they would come and establish themselves 



170 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

near the French. The same day they returned to their 
village east of the Mississippi. 

NAMES OF THE BANDS OF SCTOUX OF THE EAST, WITH THEIR 
SIGNIFICATION. 

Mantantons — That is to say, Village of the Great 
Lake which empties into a small one. 

Mendeoucantons — Village of Spirit Lake. 

Quiopetons — Village of the Lake with one River. 

Psioumanitons — Village of Wild Rice Gatherers. 

Ouadebatons. — The River Village. 

Ouatemanetons. — Village of the Tribe who dwell on 
the Point of the Lake. 

Songasquitons — The Brave Village. 

the scioux of the west. 

Touchouasintons — The Village of the Pole. 

Psinchatons — Village of the Red Wild Rice. 

Oujalespoitons — Village divided into many small 
Bands. 

Psinoutanhhintons — The Great Wild Rice Village. 

Tintangaoughiatons — The Grand Lodge Village. 

Ouapetons — Village of the Leaf. 

Oughetgeodatons — Dung Village. 

Ouapetontetons — Village of those who Shoot in the 
Large Pine. 

Hinhanetons — Village of the Red Stone Quarry. 

The above catalogue of villages concludes the extract 
that La Harpe has made from Le Sueur's Journal. 1 

1 The " History of Louisiana, by nal, and deposited among the ar- 

La Harpe," who was a French offi- chives of the American Philosophi- 

cer, remained in manuscript more cal Society, from which a few ex- 

than one hundred years. In 1805, tracts were published by Professor 

a copy was taken from the origi- Keating, in his narrative of Major 



D'IBERVILLE'S MANUSCRIPT. 171 

In the narrative of Major Long's second expedition, 
there are just the same number of villages of the Gens 
du Lac or M'dewakantonwan Scioux mentioned, though 
the names are different. After leaving the Mille Lac 
region, the divisions evidently were different, and the 
villages known by new names. 

Charlevoix, who visited the valley of the Lower Mis- 
sissippi in 1722, says that Le Sueur spent a winter in his 
fort on the banks of the Blue Earth ; and that in the 
following April he went up to the mine about a mile 
above. In twenty-two days they obtained more than 
thirty thousand pounds of the substance, four thousand 
of which were selected and sent to France. 

Early in the summer of 1701, Le Sueur came back 
to the post on the Gulf of Mexico, and found D'Iberville 
absent, who, however, arrived on the eighteenth of the 
next Feb'y , with a ship from France, loaded with sup- 
plies. After a few weeks, the Governor of Louisiana 
sailed again for the old country, Le Sueur being a fellow 
passenger. 

On board of the ship, D'Iberville wrote a memorial 
upon the Mississippi Valley, with suggestions for carry- 
ing on commerce therein, which contains many facts 
furnished by Le Sueur. A copy of the manuscript is 
hi possession of the Historical Society of Minnesota, 
from which are the following extracts : — 

" If the Sioux remain in their own country they are 
useless to us, being too distant. We could have no 
commerce with them except that of the beaver. M. 

Long's expedition. In the year 1831, tion of that part which pertains to 

the original was published at Paris, Minnesota, appeared in a St. Paul 

for the first time, in the French newspaper in 1850. 
language. The first English transla- 



L72 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Le Sueur, who goes to France to give an account of this 
country, is the proper person to make these movements. 
He estimates the Sioux at four thousand families, who 
could settle upon the Missouri. 

" He has spoken to me of another which he calls the 
Mahas, composed of more than twelve hundred families, 
the Ayooues (Ioways) and the Octoctatas their neigh- 
bours, are about three hundred families. They occupy 
the lands between the Mississippi and the Missouri, 
about one hundred leagues from the Illinois. These 
savages do not know the use of arms, and a descent 
might be made upon them in a river, which is beyond 
the Wabash on the west. ********** 

" The Assinibouel, Quenistinos, and people of the 
North, who are upon the rivers which fall into the 
Mississippi, and trade at Fort Nelson (Hudson Bay), 
are about four hundred men. We could prevent them 
from going there if we wish." 

" In four or five years we can establish a commerce 
with these savages of sixty or eighty thousand buffalo 
skins ; more than one hundred deer skins, which will 
produce, delivered in France, more than two million 
four hundred thousand livres yearly. One might obtain 
for a buffalo skin four or five pounds of wool, which 
sells for twenty sous, two pound of coarse hair at ten 
sous. 

" Besides, from smaller peltries, two hundred thou- 
sand livres can be made yearly." 

In the third volume of the " History and Statistics 
of the Indian Tribes," prepared under the direction of 
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, by Mr. Schoolcraft, 
a manuscript, a copy of which is in possession of General 
Cass, is referred to as containing the first enumeration 



EARLIEST CENSUS OF INDIANS OF MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 173 



of the Indians of the Mississippi Valley. The following 
was made thirty-four years earlier : — 



Families, 



'The Sioux, 
Mahas, . . . . 
Oetata and Ayoues, 
Canses, (Kansas), 
Missouri, . . 
Arkansas, &c., 
Manton, (Mandan) 
Panis, (Pawnee) . 
Illinois, of the great village 
andCamaroua (Tamaroa 
Meosigainea, (Metchigamias) 
Kikapous and Mascoutens, 
Miamis, 



4,000 

12,000 

300 

1,500 

1,500 
200 
100 

2,000 



800 
200 
450 
500 



Chicachas, 2,000 

Mobiliens and Chohomes, . 350 

Concaques, (Conchas) . . 2,000 

Ouma, (Houmas) . . . 150 

Colapissa, 250 

Bayogoula, 100 

People of the Fork, ... 200 

Counica, &c, (Tonicas) . 300 

Caensa, (Taensa) . . . 150 

Nadeches, 1,500 

Beiochy, (Biloxi) Pascoboula. 100 

Total, 23,850 



Chactas, 4,000 



" The savage tribes located in the places I have 
marked out, make it necessary to establish three posts 
on the Mississippi. One at the Arkansas, another at 
the Wabash (Ohio), and the third at the Missouri. At 
each post it would be proper to have an officer with a 
detachment of ten soldiers, with a sergeant and corporal. 
All Frenchmen should be allowed to settle there with 
their families, and trade with the Indians, and they 
might establish tanneries for properly dressing the 
buffalo and deer skins for transportation. 

" No Frenchman shall be allowed to follow the Indians 
on their hunts, as it tends to keep them hunters, as is seen 
in Canada, and when they are in the woods they do 
not desire to become tillers of the soil. ***** 

" I have said nothing in this memoir of which I have 
not personal knowledge or the most reliable sources. 
The most of what I propose is founded upon personal 
reflection, in relation to what might be done for the 
defence and advancement of the colony. * * * * 



174 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

* * * It will be absolutely necessary that the king 
should define the limits of this country, in relation to 
the government of Canada. It is important that the 
commandant of the Mississippi should have a report of 
those who inhabit the rivers that fall into the Mississippi, 
and principally those of the river Illinois. 

" The Canadians intimate to the savages that they 
ought not to listen to us, but to the governor of Canada, 
who always speaks to them with large presents ; that 
the governor of the Mississippi is mean, and never 
sends them anything. This is true, and what I cannot 
do. It is imprudent to accustom the savages to be 
spoken to by presents, for, with so many, it would cost 
the king more than the revenue derived from the trade. 
When they come to us, it will be necessary to bring 
them in subjection, make them no presents, and compel 
them to do what we wish, as if they were Frenchmen. 

" The Spaniards have divided the Indians into parties 
on this point, and we can do the same. When one 
nation does wrong, we can cease to trade with them, 
and threaten to draw down the hostility of other 
Indians. We rectify the difficulty by having mission- 
aries, who will bring them into obedience secretly. 

" The Illinois and Mascoutens have detained the 
French canoes they find upon the Mississippi, saying 
that the governors of Canada have given them permis- 
sion. I do not know whether this is so, but, if true, it 
follows that we have not the liberty to send any one 
on the Mississippi. 

u M. Le Sueur would have been taken if he had not 
been the strongest. Only one of the canoes he sent to 
the Sioux was plundered." ****** 

On the third of March, 1703, the workmen left at 



RETURN OF WORKMEN FROM MAHKAHTO. 



175 



Mahkahto returned to Mobile, having left Minnesota 
on account of the hostility of the Indians, and the want 
of means. 

Le Sueur, after leaving Mahkahto does not appear 
to have visited Minnesota. 1 



1 Penicaut wrote a journal of his 
voyage to the Blue Earth, a MS. 
which has recently been purchased 
for the Library of Congress. 

He mentions the Falls of St. 
Anthony, and says the party visited 
them, and that their height was 60 
feet. Returning, they ascended the 
Minnesota to the Blue Earth River, 
and a league up the latter, on a point 
of land a quarter of a mile from 
the woods, they built the fort. The 
mine they worked was three- fourths 
of a league distant, on the banks 
of the river, in a bluff. The green 
earth was a foot and a half in 
thickness. 

In May, 1701, Le Sueur left the 



fort in charge of D'Evaque, a Cana- 
dian and twelve Frenchmen, and 
returned to Mobile. 

D'Evaque, being molested by the 
Sacs and Foxes, abandoned the 
fort in the spring of 1702. Return- 
ing to Louisiana, he met Juchereau, 
who had been officer of justice in 
Montreal, with thirty-five men, on 
his way to establish a tannery at 
the mouth of the Ohio. 

Penicaut remained in Louisiana 
until 1721, when he went to France 
for treatment of his eyes, and there 
prepared the account of his ad- 
ventures which has lately been 
brought to light. 



176 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER IX. 

At the commencement of the eighteenth century, tl-e 
Dahkotahs were still dwelling at the Spirit Lake, east 
of the Mississippi; but influences were beginning to 
operate, which eventually led to dislodgment from their 
ancient stronghold. 

When the French traders first visited Green Bay, 
they found the Sauks a fierce and haughty people, 
wandering about the country between the head waters 
of the Fox and Chippeway rivers. Below them, and 
above the Illinois, resided the Fox or Outagami nation, 1 
with whom they were closely allied by intermarriage. 
The French, from the first, seemed to be unsuccessful 
in obtaining their good- will, the early voyageurs having 
behaved themselves as bandits rather than civilized men. 

In the year 1700 the Sauks and Foxes were defeated 
in a contest with the Dahkotahs and Ioways; and 

1 The Ojibways assert that the statement. "The Foxes are eighteen 

Foxes, before their incorporation with leagues from the Sacs, they number 

the Sauks, spoke a different Ian- five hundred men, abound in women 

guage, and they called them "O-dug- and children, are as industrious as 

j.uni-eeg," or people of the opposite they can be, and have a different 

side. language from the Ottawas. An 

A French memoir on the Indians Ottawa interpreter would be of no 

between Lake Erie and Mississippi, use with the Foxes/' Paris Doc. 

prepared in 1718, confirms this vii. in N. Y. C. H. vol. ix. 



ATTACK OF FOXES OX DETROIT. 177 

shortly after this they began to manifest open hostility 
against the French. Under the direction of the noted 
warriors Lamina and Pemoussa, they marched to the 
post at Detroit, which was the key to the commerce of 
the upper lakes, with the intention of exterminating 
the small garrison of thirty men. and delivering the 
post to the English, who, from the year 1687, had been 
looking wistfully towards the beautiful peninsula which 
now comprises the commonwealth of Michigan. 

For days they prowled around the rude stockade, 
watching every opportunity for insult and murder. 

To prevent the burning of the post, Du Buisson, the 
commander, ordered the chapel, storehouse, and other 
outbuildings to be destroyed. 

After a few days De Vincennes and eight Frenchmen 
arrived, but brought no news that was cheering ; and 
the commander, in his despatch to the governor of 
Canada, admits his alarm, and writes, " I did not know 
on what saint to call." 

The hour now came for decided action. The gates 
of the little fort were closed ; the garrison divided into 
four companies ; arms and ammunition duly inspected ; 
two swivels, mounted on logs, loaded with slugs; all 
were waiting, with anxious impatience, for the attack 
to commence, when the commander, ascending the 
bastion, descried a friendly force uf Osages, Missouris, 
Illinois, and other allies, issuing from the forest. The 
gates being thrown open, they were warmly greeted. 

A moment's silence, a terrific war-whoop, that made 
the very earth tremble, and the battle began in earnest, 
and murderous missiles Hew like hail-stones. To pro- 
tect themselves from the fire of the fort, the Sauks and 

Foxes dug holes in the ground, but they were soon 
12 



178 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

besieged. After being surrounded for nineteen days, 
they succeeded in making their escape, on a dark and 
rainy night, after the attacking party were asleep. The 
discovery was not made till morning, when they were 
found at Presque Isle, near Lake St. Clair. The fight 
was here renewed, and the Foxes were thoroughly de- 
feated, losing about one thousand men, women, and 
children. 1 

Maddened by their want of success, they came back 
with the portion of the Sauks who were their allies to 
their residence in Wisconsin, and revenged themselves 
by scalping every French trader they could find, and 
waging war on the Ojibways and other tribes who had 
aided the French. 

Travel to Louisiana by way of the Wisconsin river 
was entirely cutoff; and in 1714 the governor of Ca- 
nada determined to subdue or exterminate them. A 
force of eight hundred men marched to their villages, 
and the Foxes, under the pressure of necessity, formed 
a friendly alliance with their old foes, the Dahkotahs 
of Minnesota. The invading army found the foe, to 
the number of five hundred men and three thousand 
women, strongly intrenched. De Louvigny, the com- 
mander, planted his field pieces and a grenade mortar, 
and began the attack ; but the Foxes soon capitulated, 
and six hostages were given by them as security for the 
presence of their deputies at Montreal, to perfect the 
terms of the treaty. While at Montreal, Pemoussa, the 
great warrior, and others of the hostages, died of small- 
pox. 

Fearing that this calamity might defeat the arrange- 

1 This must be an exaggeration of the French report, from which the 
facts were obtained. 



PREDICTION IN RELATION TO ENGLISH MASTERY. 179 

ments for the final treaty, De Louvigny was sent to 
Mackinaw with one of the hostages, who had recovered 
from the small-pox with the loss of one eye. Arriving 
in May, 1717, he despatched the one-eyed chief with 
suitable presents to cover the dead. The Fox chiefs 
promised to comply with the provisions of the original 
capitulation, and the pock-marked warrior departed for 
Mackinaw, with the interpreter, but he soon eloped, 
and in a little while the truce-breaking Foxes were 
again shedding blood. They not only harassed the 
French, but leagued with the Chickasaws of the south, 
as well as the fierce Dahkotahs of the north. 

For a number of years the French government had 
discountenanced traders dwelling with the Indians west 
of Mackinaw, and the old license system was abolished. 
But, in 1726, it was observed that the English were 
obtaining such an influence over the distant nations, 
that, to counteract it, the licensing of traders to dwell 
among the upper tribes was renewed. 

A despatch on this point, made a prediction, which 
has been fully verified : — 

" From all that precedes, it is more and more obvious, 
that the English are endeavouring to interlope among 
all the Indian nations, and to attach them to them- 
selves. They entertain constantly the idea of becoming 
masters of North America, persuaded that the European 
nation which will be possessor of that section, will, in 
course of time, be also master of all America, because it 
is there alone that men live in health, and produce strong 
and robust children." 

To thwart them it was j)roposed to restore the twenty- 
five licenses for trading, which had been suppressed, by 
which seventy-five " coureurs des bois" would proceed 



180 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

annually to the upper tribes, and be absent eighteen 
months ; also, to abolish the prohibitory liquor law, which 
had been enacted through the influence of the mission- 
aries. The argument in favour of this measure was in 
these words : — 

" 'Tis true, that the Indians are crazy when drunk, 
and when they have once tasted brandy, that they give 
all they possess to obtain some more, and drink it to 
excess. 

" Missionaries will complain that this permission de- 
stroys the Indians and the religion among them. But, 
apart from the fact that they will always have rum 
from the English, the question is, whether it be better 
that the English penetrate into the continent by favour 
of that rum, which attracts the Indians to them, than to 
suffer the French to furnish them with liquor in order 
to preserve these nations, and to prevent them declaring 
eventually in favour of the English." 1 

In view of the troubles among the tribes of the north- 
west, in the month of September, 1718, Captain St. 
Pierre, who had great influence with the Indians of 
Wisconsin and Minnesota, was sent with Ensign Linctot 
and some soldiers to re-occupy La Pointe on Lake Supe- 
rior, now Bayfield, in the north-western point of Wis- 
consin. The chiefs of the band there and at Keweenaw, 
had threatened war against the Foxes, who had killed 
some of their number. 

On the seventh of June, 1726, peace was concluded 
by De Lignery with the Sauks, Foxes, and Winneba- 
goes, at Green Bay ; and, Linctot, who had succeeded 
Saint Pierre in command at La Pointe, was ordered, by 

1 Written May 7th, 1726. 



LINCTOT AT LA PODsTE. 181 

presents and the promise of a missionary, to endeavour 
to detach the Dahkotahs from their alliance with the 
Foxes. At this time Line tot made arrangements for 
peace between the Ojibways and Dahkotahs, and sent 
two Frenchmen to dwell in the villages of the latter, 
with a promise that, if they ceased to fight the Ojib- 
ways, they should have regular trade, and a "black 
robe" reside in their country. 

The Ojibways, after the treaty, came down to Mon- 
treal, and were thus addressed by Longeuil, 1 the gover- 
nor : — 

" I am rejoiced, my children of the Sauteurs, at the 
peace which Monsieur De Linctot has procured for you 
with the Sioux, your neighbours, and also on account 
of the prisoners you have restored to them. I desire 
him, in the letter which I now give you, my son Cabina, 
for him, that he maintain this peace, and support the 
happy reunion which now appears to exist between 
the Sioux and you. I hope he will succeed in it, if you 
are attentive to his words, and if you follow the lights 
which he will show you. 

" My heart is sad on account of the blows which the 
Foxes of Green Bay have given you, of which you have 
just spoken, and of which the commandant has written 
in his letter. It appears to me that Heaven has revenged 
you for your losses, since it has given you the flesh of a 
young Fox to eat. You have done well to listen to the 
words of your commandant to keep quiet, and respect 
the words of your Father. 

" It would not have been good to embroil the whole 
land in order to revenge a blow struck by people with- 

1 The Baron Longeuil, was Charles Le Moyne, a native of Canada. He 
died in 1729. 



182 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

out sense or reason, who have no authority in their own 
villages. 

" I invite you by this tobacco, my children, to remain 
in tranquillity in your lodges, awaiting the news of what 
shall be decided in the council at the bay (Green Bay), 
by the commandant of Mackinaw. 

" There is coming from France a new Father, who will 
not fail to inform you, as soon as he shall be able to take 
measures and stop the bad affair which the Foxes wish 
to cause in future. 

" And to convince you, my children, of the interest 
I take in your loss, here are two blankets, two shirts, 
and two pairs of leggings, to cover the bodies of those 
of your children who have been killed, and to stop the 
blood which has been spilled upon your mats. I add to 
this, four shirts to staunch the wounds of those who 
have been hurt in this miserable affray, with a package 
of tobacco to comfort the minds of your young men, and 
also to cause them to think hereafter of good things, and 
wholly to forget bad ones. 

" This is what I exhort you all, my children, while 
waiting for news from your new Father, and also to be 
always attentive to the words of the French command- 
ant, who now smokes his pipe in security among you." 

The Foxes again proved faithless, having received 
belts from the English, and determined to attack the 
French. The authorities at Quebec now determined to 
send a regular army into their country. Their prepara- 
tions were kept secret; for, says Beauharnois, "they 
already had an assurance of a passage into the country 
of the Sioux of the Prairies, their allies, in such a man- 
ner, that if they had known of our design of making 
war, it would have been easy to have withdrawn in 



FRENCH RE ESTABLISHED AT LAKE PEPIN. 183 

that direction, before we could block up the way and 
attack them in their towns." 

To hem in the Fox nation as much as possible, it was 
determined to build a fort on the point of land that 
juts into Lake Pepin, in sight of Maiden's Rock, 
and traders and missionaries resolved to accompany the 
expedition. On April 20, 1727, the Governor of 
Canada wrote to France, that the Fathers appointed for 
the projected Sioux mission desired a case of mathe- 
matical instruments, a universal astronomic dial, a spirit- 
level, chain and stakes, and a telescope of six or seven 
feet tube. 

On the 16th of June the party left Montreal under 
the command of De la Perriere Boucher, the officer 
who gained an unenviable notoriety as the leader of 
the brutal savages who sacked Haverhill, Massachusetts, 
a few years before, and exultingly killed the Puritan 
minister of the town, scalped his loving wife, and then 
dashed out her infant's brains against the rocks. 

On the 17th of September, Lake Pepin was reached. 
The stockade when completed was one hundred feet 
square, within which were three buildings, one, thirty 
by sixteen feet, one, thirty-eight by sixteen, and the 
last, twenty-five by sixteen feet in dimensions. There 
were also two bastions, and the whole was surrounded 
by twelve-foot pickets. The fort, in compliment to the 
Governor of Canada, was called " Beauharnois," and 
the mission was known as that of " St. Michael the 
Archangel." 

Guignas writes, " On the morning of the 4th of 
November [1727] we did not forget it was the general's 
birthday. Mass was said for him in the morning, and 
they were w^ell disposed to celebrate in the evening, but 

* Appendix H 



184 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the tardiness of the pyrotechnist caused them to post- 
pone the celebration to the 14th, when they set off some 
very fine rockets, and made the air ring with a hundred 
shouts : ' Vive le Roy/ and ' Vive Charles de Beau- 
harnois.' .... What contributed much to the amuse- 
ment was the terror of some lodges of Indians who were 
at that time around the fort. When these poor people 
saw the fireworks in the air, and the stars fall down 
from heaven, the women and children began to fly, and 
the most courageous of the men to cry for mercy and 
implore us very earnestly to stop the surprising display 
of that wonderful medicine." 

The spring of 1728 was remarkable for floods, and 
the water covered the floors of the fort. Early in the 
season the traders and Father Guignas were obliged to 
leave on account of the hostility of the Foxes. 

This year the Governor of Canada wrote to France 
relative to the reinforcement of the post on Lake 
Pepin as follows: "The Foxes will, in all proba- 
bility, come or send next year to sue for peace; 
therefore, if it be granted to them on advanta- 
geous conditions, there need be no apprehension when 
going to the Scioux, and another company could be 
formed, less numerous than the first, through whom, or 
some responsible merchants able to afford the outfits, a 
new treaty could be made whereby these difficulties 
would be soon obviated. One only trouble remains, and 
that is, to send a commanding and sub-officer, and some 
soldiers up there, which are absolutely necessary for the 
maintenance of good order at that post ; the mission- 
aries would not go there without a commandant. This 
article, which regards the service, and the expense of 

* Appendix I 



DE LIGNERYS EXPEDITION AGAINST THE FOXES. 185 

which must be on his majesty's account, obliges them to 
apply for orders. They will, as far as lies in their 
power, induce the traders to meet that expense, which 
will possibly amount to 1000 livres or 1500 livres a year 
for the commandant, and in proportion for the officer 
under him ; but, as in the beginning of an establishment 
the expenses exceed the profits, it is improbable that 
any company of merchants will assume the outlay, and 
in this case they demand orders on this point, as well as 
his majesty's opinion as to the necessity of preserving 
so useful a post, and a nation which has already afforded 
proofs of its fidelity and attachment. 

" These orders could be sent them by way of He 
Eoyale, or by the first merchantmen that will sail for 
Quebec. The time required to receive intelligence of 
the occurrences in the Scioux country, will admit of 
their waiting for these orders before doing anything." 

On the fifth of June, 1728, an army of four hundred 
Frenchmen and eight or nine hundred savages, em- 
barked at Montreal, on an expedition to destroy the 
Fox nation and their allies, the Sauks. De Lignery 1 
was the head of the expedition — a man like Braddock 
at Fort Duquesne, who moved his army with precision 
and pomp, as if the savages were accustomed to fight in 
platoons, and observe the laws of war, recognised by all 
civilized nations. 

On the seventeenth of August, in the dead of night, 
the army arrived at the post at the mouth of Fox river. 
Before dawn the French crossed over to the Sauk vil- 
lage, but all had escaped with the exception of four. 
Ascending the stream on the twenty-fourth, they came 

1 Taught by experience, he afterwards became an able officer in the 
French war. 



186 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

to a Winnebago village which was also deserted. Pass- 
ing over the Little Fox Lake, on the twenty-fifth, they 
entered a small river leading to marshy ground, on the 
borders of which there was a large Fox village. Here 
again was another disappointment, for the swift-footed 
savages had gone many miles on their trail long before 
the army came in sight. 

Orders were then given to advance upon the last 
stronghold of the enemy, near the portage of the Wis- 
consin, and on their arrival they found all as still as 
the desert. On the return of the army from this fruit- 
less expedition, the Indian villages on the line of march 
were devastated, and the fort at Green Bay abandoned. 
The Foxes, having abandoned everything, retired to the 
country of the Ioways and Dahkotahs, and probably at 
this time they pitched their tents and hunted in the 
valley of the Sauk river in Minnesota. 

During the year of this badly managed expedition, 
Father Guignas visited the Dahkotahs, and would have 
remained there if there had not been hostility between 
the Foxes and French. While travelling to the Illinois 
country he fell into the hands of the Kickapoos and 
Masco utens, allies of the Foxes, in the month of October. 
He was saved from being burned to death by an aged 
man adopting him as a son. For five months he was 
in captivity. In the year 1736, while St. Pierre was 
the commander at Lake Pepin, Father Guignas was 
also there, and thought that the Dahkotahs were very 
friendly. 

About the period of the revival of the post on Lake 
Pepin, an establishment was built on Lake Ouinipigon, 
west of Lake Superior. 

*Apendix J 



VERANDERIE'S TOUR TOWARDS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 187 

Veranderie, a French officer, was, at this early date, 
commissioned to open a northern route to the Pacific. 

Proceeding westward from the Grand Portage of Lake 
Superior, he followed the chain of lakes which form the 
boundary line of Minnesota and British America, to 
Lake Winnipeg. Ascending the Assiniboine, he struck 
out on the plains, and for several days journeyed 
towards the Kocky Mountains. Kalm, the Swedish 
traveller, who saw him in Canada, says that he found 
on the prairies of Rupert's Land, pillars of stone. 

At one place, nine hundred leagues from Montreal, 
he discovered a stone with characters inscribed, which 
the learned at Paris, where it was sent, supposed were 
Tartarean ; but probably it was a pictograph set up by 
some passing war or hunting party. 1 



1 Stone heaps are seen on the prai- 
ries of Minnesota. Having written 
to a gentleman some years ago, to in- 
quire of the Dahkotahs " what mean 
ye by these stones?" I received an 
interesting reply : — 

Dear Sir: Your letter of the third 
instant, relating to the stone heaps 
near Red Wing, was duly received. 

I am happy to comply with your 
request, hoping that it may lead to 
an accurate survey of these mounds. 

In 1848 I first heard of stone heaps 
on the hill-tops, back of Red Wing. 
But business, and the natural suspi- 
cion of the Indian, prevented me 
from exploring. The treaty of Men- 
dota emboldened me to visit the 
hills, and try to find the stone heaps. 
Accordingly, late last autumn, I 
started on foot and alone from Red 
Wing, following the path marked P. 
on the map, which I herewith trans- 



mit. I left the path after crossing 
the second stream, and turning to 
the left, I ascended the first hill that 
I reached. This is about a mile 
distant from the path that leads from 
Fort Snelling to Lake Pepin. Here, 
on the brow of the hill, which was 
about two hundred feet high, was a 
heap of stones. It is about twelve 
feet in diameter and six in height. 
The perfect confusion of the stones 
and yet the entireness of the heap, 
and the denuded rocks all around, 
convinced me that the heap had been 
formed from stones lying around, 
picked up by the hand of man. 

But why and when it had been 
done, were questions not so easily 
decided. For solving these I re- 
solved to seek internal evidence. 
Prompted by the spirit of a first 
explorer, I soon ascended the heap ; 
and the coldness of the day, and the 



188 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



He established some six commercial posts on the line 
of his route, some of which are in existence to this day, 
and bear the same names. 

His journey was ended by difficulties with the Indi- 
ans, and he was obliged to return. 

The Dahkotahs were suspected of having molested 
this expedition. The king of France, writing to the 



proximity of my gun, tended to sup- 
press my dread of rattlesnakes. 
The stones were such that I could 
lift, or roll them, and soon reached 
a stick about two feet from the top 
of the heap. After descending about 
a foot further, I pulled the post out ; 
and about the same place found a 
shank bone, about five inches long. 
The post was red cedar half decayed, 
i. e. one side, and rotted to a point 
in the ground; hence I could not 
tell whether it grew there or not. 
The bone is similar to the two which 
you have. I left it and the post on 
the heap, hoping that some one 
better skilled in osteology might 
visit the heap. The stones of the 
heap are magnesian limestone, which 
forms the upper stratum of the hills 
about Red Wing. 

Much pleased, I started over the 
hill top, and was soon greeted by an- 
other silent monument of art. This 
heap is marked B. on the map. It is 
similar to the first which is marked 
A., only it is larger, and was so co- 
vered with a vine, that I had no suc- 
cess in opening it. From this point 
there is a fine view southward. The 
valleys and hills are delightful. Such 
hills and vales, such cairns and bushy 
glens, would, in my father's land,have 



been the thrones and playgrounds of 
fairies. But I must stick to facts. I 
now started eastward to visit a coni- 
cal appearing hill, distant about a 
mile and a half. I easily descended 
the hill, but to cross the plain and 
ascend another hill, " hie labor est." 
But I was amply repaid. The hill 
proved to be a ridge with several stone 
heaps on the summit. Near one heap 
there is a beautiful little tree with a 
top like " Tarn O'Shanter's" bonnel. 
In these heaps I found the bones 
which I left with you. I discovered 
each about half-way down the heaps. 

I then descended northward about 
two hundred feet, crossed a valley, 
passed some earth mounds, and as- 
cended another hill, and there found 
several more stone heaps similar to 
the others. In them I found no 
bones, nor did I see anything else 
worthy of particular notice at pre- 
sent. 

If these facts should, in any mea- 
sure, help to preserve correct infor- 
mation concerning any part of this 
new country, I shall be amply re- 
warded for writing. 

Your obedient servant, 

J. F. Aiton. 

Kaposia, Jan. 17, 1852. 




CARTE 

M$ NOtfVCitfS fil^OVVlRTiS 

Dressee sur les Me/no ir&f ckAfTDe/Ts/e, Pro/ess eur a /'/lea de'mie 

Jtoyale Jes Jciericej* . far ffuAji/ie BuacAe . //SO. 

— v> •< 

Drawn from iAe Original 6y J?.0r/njbi/ J'a^eeny . 



FINAL ATTACK ON THE FOXES. 189 

governor of Canada, under date of May tenth, 1737, 
says : — 

" As respects the Scioux, according to what the com- 
mandant 1 and missionary 2 have written to Sieur de 
Beauharnois, relative to the disposition of these Indians, 
nothing appears to be wanting on that point. But their 
delay in coming down to Montreal since the time they 
promised to do so, must render their sentiments some- 
what suspected, and nothing but facts can determine 
whether their fidelity can be absolutely relied on. But 
what must still further increase the uneasiness to be 
entertained in their regard, is the attack on the convoy 
of M. de la Veranderie." 

The Foxes having killed some Frenchmen in the 
Illinois country, in 1741, the governor of Canada, Mar- 
quis de Beauharnois, assembled at his house, some of 
the most experienced officers in the Indian service, the 
Baron de Longeuil, La Corne, De Lignery, and others, 
and it was unanimously agreed, that the welfare of the 
French demanded the complete extermination of the 
Foxes, and that the movements against them should be 
conducted with the greatest caution. 

Louis XV. was glad to hear of the determination of 
the governor of Canada, but he was afraid that it would 
not be conducted with sufficient secrecy. He, with great 
discernment, remarks, " If they foresee their inability to 
resist, they will have adopted the policy of retreating 
to the Scioux of the Prairies, from which point they will 
cause more disorder, in the colony, than if they had 
been allowed to remain quiet in their village." 

The officer in charge of the incursion, was Moran, 3 

1 Saint Pierre. 2 Gui^nas. 

* Probably Sieur Marin, of the French Documents. 



190 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

who once had charge of the post St. Nicholas near the 
mouth of the Wisconsin, on the Mississippi. His 
strategy was not unlike that of the besiegers of ancient 
Troy. At that time the Fox tribe lived at the Little 
Butte des Morts, on the Fox river of Wisconsin. When- 
ever a trader's canoe hove in sight, they lighted a torch 
upon the bank, which was a signal for Frenchmen to 
land, and pay for the privilege of using the stream. 

Moran having placed his men in canoes, with their 
guns primed, had each canoe covered with canvas, as 
if he was bringing into the country an outfit of mer- 
chandise, and desired to protect it from storms. When 
near Little Butte des Morts the party was divided, a 
portion proceeding by land to the rear of the Fox vil- 
lage, and the remainder moving up the stream. 

The oarsmen having paddled the canoes within view 
of the Foxes, they, according to custom,^ planted the 
torch, supposing it was a trader's " brigade." 1 

Curiosity brought men, women, and children to the 
river's bank, and as they gazed, the canoes were suddenly 
uncovered, and the discharge of a swivel, and volleys 
of musketry, were the presents received. Before they 
could recover from their consternation, they received 
" a fire in the rear" from the land party, and many 
were killed. The remnant retreated to the Wisconsin, 
twenty-one miles from Prairie du Chien, where, the 
next season Moran and his troops, on snow shoes, sur- 
prised them while they were engaged in a game, and 
slew nearly the whole settlement. 2 

During the winter of 1745-6, De Lusignan visited 

1 In the North-West a collect on Recollections. Vol. Hi., Wis. His. 

of traders' canoes is called a brigj le. Soc. Col. 

2 Snelling's North-West, Grignon's 



LUSIGNAN VISITS THE DAHKOTAHS. 391 

the Dahkotahs, ordered by government to hunt up the 
"eoureurs des bois," and withdraw them from the 
country. They started to return with him, but learn- 
ing that they would be arrested at Mackinaw, for viola- 
tion of law, they ran away. While at the villages of 
the Dahkotahs of the lakes and plains, the chiefs 
brought to this officer nineteen of their young men, 
bound with cords, who had killed three Frenchmen at 
the Illinois. While he remained with them they made 
peace with the Ojibways of La Pointe, with whom they 
had been at war for some time. On his return, four 
chiefs accompanied him to Montreal, to solicit pardon 
for their young braves. 

The lessees of the trading post lost many of their 
peltries that winter, in consequence of a fire. 

English influence produced increasing dissatisfaction 
among the Indians that were beyond Mackinaw. Not 
only were voyageurs robbed and maltreated at Sault St. 
Marie, and other points on Lake Superior, but even the 
commandant at Mackinaw was exposed to insolence, and 
there was no security anywhere. The Marquis de 
Beauharnois determined to send St. Pierre to the scene 
of disorder. In the language of a document of the day, 
he was " a very good officer, much esteemed among; 
all the nations of those parts — none more loved and 
feared." 

On his arrival, the savages were so cross, that he 
advised that no Frenchman should come to trade. 

By promptness and boldness, he secured the Indians 
who had murdered some Frenchmen, and obtained the 
respect of the tribes. 

While the three murderers were being conveyed in a 
canoe down the St. Lawrence to Quebec, in charge of a 



192 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

sergeant and seven soldiers, the savages, with character- 
istic cunning, though manacled, succeeded in killing or 
drowning the guard. Cutting their irons with an axe, 
they sought the woods, and escaped to their own 
country. 

" Thus," writes Galassoniere, in 1748, to Count Mau- 
repas, " was lost in a great measure the fruit of Sieur 
St. Pierre's good management, and of all the fatigue T 
endured to get the nations who surrendered these 
rascals to listen to reason." 



INDIAN ENLISTMENT.— FRENCH WAR. 193 



CHAPTER X. 

Canada was now fairly involved in the war with 
New York and the New England colonies. The Home 
Governments were anxious lookers on, for momentous 
issues depended upon the failure or success of either 
party. 

The French knew that they must enlist the Upper 
Indians on their side, or lose Detroit, Mackinaw, and 
indeed all the keys of the valley of the Mississippi, and 
the region of the lakes. They, therefore, sent officers 
with presents to Mackinaw, to induce the tribes of the 
far West to unite with them in expelling the English. 

It was impossible to form regiments of the North 
American savages, as the French of modern days have 
done in Algeria, or as the British with the Sepoys. 

Indians can never be made to move in platoons. 

From youth they have marched in single file, and have 

only answered to the call of their inclinations, and over 

them their chiefs have not the slightest authority. To 

their capricious natures enlistment for a fixed time is 

repugnant, At the same time, under the guidance of 

colonial officers who humoured them in their whims, 

they frequently rendered efficient service. They were 

conversant with the recesses of the forest, and walked 

through the tangled wilderness with the same ease that 
" 13 



194 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the French military officers promenaded the gardens of 
Paris. They discovered the trail of men with the 
instinct that their dogs scented the tracks of wild 
beasts. Adroit in an attack, they would also, amid a 
shower of musket balls, feel for the scalp of an enemy. 

With such allies it is no wonder that New England 
mothers and delicate maidens turned pale when they 
heard that the French were coming. 1 

On the twenty-third of August, 1747, Philip Le Due 
arrived at Mackinaw from Lake Superior, stating that 
he had been robbed of his goods at Kamanistigoya, 2 and 
that the Ojibways of the lake were favourably disposed 
toward the English. The Dahkotahs were also becom- 
ing unruly in the absence of French officers. 

In the few weeks after Le Due's robbery, St. Pierre 
left Montreal to become commandant at Mackinaw, and 
Vercheres was appointed for the post at Green Bay. 

On the twenty-first of June of the next year, La 
Ronde started for La Pointe, and La Veranderie for 
West Sea 3 — Fond du Lac, Minnesota. 

For several years there was constant dissatisfaction 
among the Indians, but under the influence of Sieur 
Marin, who was in command at Green Bay in 1753, 
tranquillity was in a measure restored. 

1 The following are some of the Aug. 6, 40 Ottawas of the Fork, 

arrivals in a few weeks at Montreal, " 10, 65 Mississagues. 

in 1746. July 23—31 Ottawas of " " 80 Algonkins and Nepis- 

Detroit. sings. 

July 31, 16 Folles Avoines for war. " " 14 Sauteurs. 

" " 14Kiskakons " " " 22, 38 Ottawas of Detroit. 

" " 4 Scioux, to ask for a " " 17 Sauteurs 

commandant. " " 24 Huron s. 

Aug. 2, 50 Potto wattamies for war. " " 14 Poutewatamis. 

" " 15 Puans " " 2 Pigeon river, part of northern 

" " 10 Illinois " " boundary of Minnesota. 

" 6. -50 Ottawas of Mackinaw. 3 Carver's map calls it West Bay. 



BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT.— ST. PIERRE'S DEATH. 195 

As the war between England and France, in America 
became desperate, the officers of the north-western posts 
were called into action, and stationed nearer the enemy. 

Legardeur de St. Pierre, whose name it is thought 
was formerly attached to the river from which the state 
of Minnesota derives its name, was in command of a 
rude post in Erie county, Pennsylvania, in December, 
1753, and to him Washington, then just entering upon 
manhood, bore a letter from Governor Dinwiddie of 
Virginia. 1 

On the ninth of July, 1755, Beaujeu and De Lignery, 
who had pursued so unsuccessfully the Foxes, in the 
valley of the Wisconsin, in 1728, were at Fort Duquesne, 
and marched out of the fort with soldiers, Canadians, 
and Indians, to seek an ambush, but about noon, before 
reaching the desired spot, they met the enemy under 
Bracldock, who discharged a galling fire from their artil- 
lery, by which Beaujeu was killed. The sequel, which 
led to the memorable defeat of Braddock, is familiar to 
all who have read the life of Washington. 

Under Baron Dieskaw, St. Pierre commanded the 
Indians, in September, 1755, during the campaign on 
Lake Champlain, where he fell gallantly fighting the 
English, as did his commander. The Reverend Claude 
Cocquard, alluding to the French defeat, in a letter to 
his brother, remarks : — 

" We lost, on that occasion, a brave officer, M. de St. 
Pierre, and had his advice, as well as that of several 
other Canadian officers been followed, Jonckson 2 was 
irretrievably destroyed, and we should have been spared 
the trouble we have had this year." 

1 St. Pierre's reply was manly and dignified. See Pennsylvania Colo- 
nial Records, v. 715. 

2 Joh ■ 



196 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Other officers who had been stationed on the borders 
of Minnesota, also distinguished themselves during the 
French war. The Marquis Montcalm, in camp at Ticon- 
deroga, on the twenty-seventh of July, 1757, writes to 
Yaudreuil, Governor of Canada. 

a Lieutenant Marin, of the Colonial troops, who has 
exhibited a rare audacity, did not consider himself 
bound to halt, although his detachment of about four 
hundred men was reduced to about two hundred, the 
balance having been sent back on account of inability 
to follow. He carried off a patrol of ten men, and 
swept away an ordinary guard of fifty, like a wafer; 
went up to the enemy's camp, under Fort Lydius 
(Edward), where he was exposed to a severe fire, and 
retreated like a warrior. He was unwilling to amuse 
himself making prisoners ; he brought in only one, and 
thirty-two scalps, and must have killed many men of 
the enemy, in the midst of whose ranks it was neither 
wise nor prudent to go in search of scalps. The Indians 
generally all behaved well. ****** The Outaouais, 
w T ho arrived with me, and whom I designed to go on a 
scouting party towards the lake, had conceived a pro- 
ject of administering a corrective to the English barges. 
* * * * On the day before yesterday, your brother 
formed a detachment to accompany them. I arrived at 
his camp on the evening of the same day. Lieutenant 
de Corbiere, of Colonial troops, was returning in conse- 
quence of a misunderstanding, and as I knew the zeal 
and intelligence of that officer, I made him set out with 
a new instruction to rejoin Messrs. de Langlade 1 and 
Hertel de Chantly. They remained in ambush all day 

1 This officer has relatives in Wis- his life is in Grignon's Recollections, 
consin, and an interesting sketch of Wis. Hist. Soc. Collections, vol. iii. 



IOW AYS AT TICONDEROGA. 



197 



and night yesterday; at break of day the English 
appeared on Lake St. Sacrament (Champlain) , to the 
number of twenty-two barges, under the command of 
Sieur Parker. The whoops of our Indians impressed 
them with such terror that they made but feeble resist- 
ance, and only two barges escaped." 

After De Corbiere's victory on Lake Champlain, a 
large French army was collected at Ticonderoga, with 
which there were many Indians from the tribes of the 
North-west, 2 and the Ioways appeared for the first time 
in the east. 

It is an interesting fact that the English officers who 



1 INDIANS OF THE UPPER COUNTRY. 

Tetes de Boule 3 

Outaouais Kiskakons 94 

" Sinagos 35 

" of the Forks 70 

" of Mignogan 10 

DO 

" of Beaver Island 44 

of Detroit 30 

" of Saginau 54 

Sauteurs of Chagoamigon 33 

of Beaver 23 

" of Coasekimagen 14 

of the Carp 37 

ofCabibonke 50 

Poutouatamis of St. Joseph 70 

of Detroit 18 

Folles Avoines of Orignal 62 

of the Chat 67 

Miamis 15 

Puans of the Bay 48 

Ayeouais (Ioways) 10 

Foxes 20 

Ouillas 10 

Sacs 33 

Loups 5 



OFFICERS. 

De Langlade. 
Florimont. 
Herbin. 
Abbe Matavet. 
Sulpitian. 



La Plante. 
De Lorinier. 
Chesne, Interpreter. 



De Tailly, Interpreter 

Marin, Langus. 
Reaume, Interpreter. 



198 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

were in frequent engagements with St. Pierre, Lusignan, 
Marin, Langlade, and others, became the pioneers of the 
British, a few years afterwards, in the occupation of the 
outposts on the Lakes, and in the exploration of Minne- 
sota. 

Rogers, the celebrated captain of rangers, subse- 
quently commander of Mackinaw, and Jonathan Carver, 
the first British explorer of Minnesota, were both on 
duty at Lake Champlain — the latter narrowly escaping 
at the battle of Fort George. 

On Christmas eve, 1757, Rogers approached Fort 
Ticonderoga, to fire the out-houses, but was prevented 
by discharge of the cannons of the French. 

He contented himself with killing fifteen beeves, on 
the horns of one of which he left a laconic and amusing 
note, addressed to the commander of the post. 1 

On the thirteenth of March, 1758, Durantaye, for- 
merly at Mackinaw, had a skirmish with Rogers. Both 
had been trained on the frontier, and they met "as 
Greek met Greek." The conflict was fierce, and the 
French victorious. The Indian allies, finding a scalp 
of a chief underneath an officer's jacket, were furious, 
and took one hundred and fourteen scalps in return. 
When the French returned, they supposed that Captain 
Rogers was among the killed. 

At Quebec, when Montcalm and Wolfe fell, there 
were Ojibways present, assisting the French. 

The Indians, returning from the expeditions against 

1 " I am obliged to you, Sir, for the my compliments to the Marquis du 

repose you have allowed me to take ; Montcalm. Rogers, Commandant 

1 thank you for the fresh meat you Independent Companies." 
have sent me, I request you to present 



ENGLISH AT GREEN BAY.— DAHKOTAH EMBASSY. 199 

the English were attacked with small-pox, and many 
died at Mackinaw. 

On the eighth of September, 1760, the French de- 
livered up all their posts in Canada. A few days after 
the capitulation at Montreal, Major Bogers was sent 
with English troops, to garrison the posts of the distant 
North-west. 

On the eighth of September, 1761, a year after the 
surrender, Captain Belfour, of the eightieth regiment 
of the British army, left Detroit, with a detachment, to 
take possession of the French forts at Mackinaw and 
Green Bay. Twenty-five soldiers were left at Macki- 
naw, in command of Lieutenant Leslie, and the rest 
sailed to Green Bay, where they arrived on the twelfth 
of October. The fort had been abandoned for several 
years, and was in a dilapidated condition. In charge 
of it, there was left a lieutenant, a corporal, and fifteen 
soldiers. Two English traders arrived at the same 
time — McKay from Albany, and Goddard from Mon- 
treal. 

On the first of March, 1763, twelve Dahkotah war- 
riors arrived at the fort, and proffered the friendship of 
the nation. They told the English officer, with warmth, 
that if the Ojibways, or other Indians, wished to obstruct 
the passage of the traders coming up, to send them a 
belt, and they would come and cut them off, as all 
Indians were their slaves or dogs. They then produced 
a letter written by Penneshaw, a French trader, who 
had been permitted, the year before, to go to their 
country. On the nineteenth of June, Penneshaw re- 
turned from his trading expedition among the Dahkc- 
tahs. By his influence the nation was favourably 
affected toward the English. He brought with him a 



200 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



pipe from them, with a request that traders might he 
sent to them. 1 



1 Extracts from the journal of Lt. 
Gorell, an English officer at Green 
Bay, Wis. His. Coll. vol. i. 

" On March 1, 1763, twelve war- 
riors of the Sous came here. It is 
certainly the greatest nation of 
Indians ever yet found. Not above 
two thousand of them were ever 
armed with fire-arms, the rest de- 
pending entirely on bows and arrows, 
which they use with more skill than 
any other Indian nation in America. 
They can shoot the wildest and 
largest beasts in the woods at seventy 
or one hundred yards distant. They 
are remarkable for their dancing, 
and the other nations take the 
fashions from them. * * * * This 
nation is always at war with the 
Chippewas, those who destroyed 
Mishamakinak. They told me with 
warmth that if ever the Chippewas 
or any other Indians wished to ob- 
struct the passage of the traders 
coming up, to send them word, and 
they would come and cut them off 
from the face of the earth, as all 
Indians were their slaves or dogs. 
I told them I was glad to see them, 
and hoped to have a lasting peace 
with them. They then gave me a 
letter wrote in French, and two belts 
of wampum from their king, in which 
he expressed great joy on hearing of 
there being English at his post. The 
letter was written by a French tra- 
der, whom I had allowed to go among 
them last fall, with a promise of his 



behaving well, which he did, better 
than any Canadian I ever knew. * 
* * * With regard to traders, I told 
them I would not allow any to go- 
amongst them, as I then understood 
they lay out of the government of 
Canada, but made no doubt they 
would have traders from the Missis- 
sippi in the spring. They went 
away extremely well pleased. ' June- 
14th, 1763, the traders came down 
from the Sack country, and confirmed 
the news of Landsing and his son 
being killed by the French. There 
came with the traders some Puans 
and four young men, with one chief 
of the Avoy (Ioway) nation to de- 
mand traders/ * * * * 

"On the nineteenth, a deputation 
of Winnebagoes, Sacs, Foxes, and Me- 
nominees arrived with a Frenchman 
named Pennensha. This Pennen- 
sha is the same man who wrote the 
letter the Sous brought with them 
in French, and at the same time held 
council with that great nation in 
favour of the English, by which he 
much promoted the interest of the 
latter, as appeared by the behaviour 
of the Sous. He brought with him 
a pipe from the Sous, desiring that 
as the road is now clear, they would 
by no means allow the Chippewas to 
obstruct it, or give the English any 
disturbance, or prevent the traders 
from coming up to them. If they 
did so they would send all their 
warriors and cut them off." 



NO ENGLISH POSTS BEYOND MACKINAW. 201 



CHAPTER XL 

Though the treaty of 1763, made at Versailles, be- 
tween France and England, ceded all the territory 
comprised within the limits of Wisconsin and Minne- 
sota to the latter power, the English did not for a long 
time obtain a foothold. 

The French traders having purchased wives from the 
Indian tribes, they managed to preserve a feeling of 
friendship towards their king, long after the trading 
posts at Green Bay and Sault St. Marie had been dis- 
continued. 

The price paid for peltries by those engaged in the 
fur trade at New Orleans, was also higher than that 
which the British could afford to give, so that the 
Indians sought for French goods in exchange for their 
skins. 

Finding it useless to compete with the French of the 
lower Mississippi, the English government established 
no posts of trade or defence beyond Mackinaw. The 
country west of Lake Michigan appears to have been 
trodden by but few British subjects, previous to him 
who forms the subject of the present chapter, and whose 
name has become somewhat famous in consequence of 
his heirs having laid claim to the site of St. Paul, and 
many miles adjacent. 



202 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Jonathan Carver was a native of Connecticut. It has 
been asserted that he was a lineal descendant of John 
Carver, the first governor of Plymouth colony ; but the 
only definite information that the writer can obtain 
concerning his ancestry is, that his grandfather, William 
Carver, was a native of Wigan, Lancashire, England, 
and a captain in King William's army during the cam- 
paign in Ireland, and for meritorious services received 
an appointment as an officer of the colony of Connecticut. 

His father was a justice of the peace in the new world, 
and in 1732, at Stillwater, or Canterbury, Connecticut, 
the subject of this sketch was born. At the early age 
of fifteen he was called to mourn the death of his father. 
He then commenced the study of medicine, but his 
roving disposition could not bear the confines of a 
doctor's office, and feeling, perhaps, that his genius 
would be cramped by pestle and mortar, at the age of 
eighteen he purchased an ensign's commission in one of 
the regiments Connecticut raised during the French 
war. He was of medium stature, and of strong mind 
and quick perceptions. 

In the year 1757, he was present at the massacre of 
Fort William Henry, and narrowly escaped with his life. 

After the peace of 1763, between France and Eng- 
land, was declared, Carver conceived the project of ex- 
ploring the North-west. Leaving Boston in the month 
of June, 1766, he arrived at Mackinaw, then the most 
distant British post, in the month of August. Having 
obtained a credit on some French and English traders 
from Major Rogers, the officer in command, he started 
with them on the third day of September. Pursuing 
the usual route to Green Bay, they arrived there on 
the eighteenth. 



CARVER'S DESCRIPTION OF PRAIRIE DU CHIEN. 203 

The French fort at that time was standing, though 
much decayed. It was, some years previous to his 
arrival, garrisoned for a short time by an officer and 
thirty English soldiers, but they having been captured 
by the Menominees, it was abandoned. 

In company with the traders he left Green Bay on 
the twentieth, and ascending Fox river, arrived on the 
twenty-fifth at an island at the east end of Lake Win- 
nebago, containing about fifty acres. 

Here he found a Winnebago village of fifty houses. 
He asserts that a woman was in authority. In the 
month of October the party was at the portage of the 
Wisconsin, and descending that stream, they arrived, 
on the ninth, at a town of the Sauks. While here he 
visited some lead mines about fifteen miles distant. 
An abundance of lead was also seen in the village, that 
had been brought from the mines. 

On the tenth they arrived at the first village of the 
" Ottigaumies" (Foxes) , and about five miles before the 
Wisconsin joins the Mississippi, he perceived the rem- 
nants of another village, and learned that it had been 
deserted about thirty years before, and that the inhabit- 
ants, soon after their removal, built a town on the Mis- 
sissippi, near the mouth of the " Ouisconsin," at a place 
called by the French La Prairie les Chiens, which 
signified the Dog Plains. It was a large town, and 
contained about three hundred families. The houses 
were built after the Indian manner, and pleasantly 
situated on a dry rich soil. 

He saw here many horses of a good size and shape. 
This town was the great mart where all the adjacent 
tribes, and where those who inhabit the most remote 
branches of the Mississippi, annually assemble about 



204 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the latter end of May, bringing with them their furs 
to dispose of to the traders. But it is not always that 
they conclude their sale here. This was determined by 
a general council of the chiefs, who consulted whether it 
would be more conducive to their interest to sell their 
goods at this place, or to carry them on to Louisiana 
or Mackinaw. 

At a small stream called Yellow river, opposite Prairie 
du Chien, the traders who had thus far accompanied 
Carver took up their residence for the winter. 

From this point he proceeded in a canoe, with a 
Canadian voyageur and a Mohawk Indian, as com- 
panions. 

Just before reaching Lake Pepin, while his attend- 
ants were one day preparing dinner, he walked out and 
was struck with the peculiar appearance of the surface 
of the country, and thought it was the site of some vast 
artificial earth-work. 

It is a fact, worthy of remembrance, that he was the 
first to call the attention of the civilized world to the 
existence of ancient monuments in the Mississippi valley. 
We give his own description : — 

" On the first of November I reached Lake Pepin, a 
few miles below which I landed, and, whilst the ser- 
vants were preparing my dinner, I ascended the bank 
to view the country. I had not proceeded far before I 
came to a fine, level, open plain, on which I perceived, 
at a little distance, a partial elevation, that had the 
appearance of entrenchment. On a nearer inspection, 
I had greater reason to suppose that it had really been 
intended for this many centuries ago. Notwithstanding 
it was now covered with grass, I could plainly see that 
it had once been a breast-work of about four feet in 



SUPPOSED EARTH WORKS NEAR LAKE PEPIN. 205 

height, extending the best part of a mile, and sufficiently 
capacious to cover five thousand men. Its form was 
somewhat circular, and its flanks reached to the river. 

" Though much defaced by time, every angle was 
distinguishable, and appeared as regular and fashioned 
with as much military skill as if planned by Vauban 
himself. The ditch was not visible ; but I thought, on 
examining more curiously, that I could perceive there 
certainly had been one. From its situation, also, I am 
convinced that it must have been designed for that 
purpose. It fronted the country, and the rear was 
covered by the river, nor was there any rising ground 
for a considerable way that commanded it ; a few 
straggling lakes were alone to be seen near it. In 
many places small tracks were worn across it by the 
feet of the elks or deer, and from the depth of the bed 
of earth, by which it was covered, I was able to draw 
certain conclusions of its great antiquity. I examined 
all the angles, and every part with great attention, and 
have often blamed myself since, for not encamping on 
the spot, and drawing an exact plan of it. To show 
that this description is not the offspring of a heated 
imagination, or the chimerical tale of a mistaken travel- 
ler, I find, on inquiry, since my return, that Mons. St. 
Pierre and several traders have, at different times, 
taken notice of similar appearances, upon which they 
have formed the same conjectures, but without exa- 
mining them so minutely as I did. How a work of 
this kind could exist in a country that has hitherto 
(according to the generally received opinion) been the 
seat of war to untutored Indians alone, whose whole 
stock of military knowledge has only, till within two 
centuries, amounted to drawing the bow, and whose 



206 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

only breastwork, even at present, is the thicket, I know 
not. I have given as exact an account as possible of 
this singular appearance, and leave to future explorers, 
of those distant regions, to discover whether it is a pro- 
duction of nature or art. Perhaps the hints I have 
here given, might lead to a more perfect investigation 
of it, and give us very different ideas of the ancient 
state of realms, that we at present believe to have 
been, from the earliest period, only the habitations of 
savages." 

Lake Pepin excited his admiration, as it has that of 
every traveller since his day, and here he remarks : "I 
observed the ruins of a French factory, where it is said 
Captain St. Pierre resided, and carried on a very great 
trade with the Naudowessies, before the reduction of 
Canada." 

Carver's first acquaintance with the Dahkotahs com- 
menced near the river St. Croix. It would seem that 
the erection of trading posts on Lake Pepin had enticed 
them from their old residence on Hum river and 
Mille Lac. 

He says : " Near the river St. Croix, reside bands of 
the Naudowessie Indians, called the River Bands. This 
nation is composed at present of eleven bands. They 
were originally twelve, but the Assinipoils, some years 
ago, revolting and separating themselves from the others, 
there remain only at this time eleven. Those I met 
here are termed the River Bands, because they chiefly 
dwell near the banks of this river; the other eight are 
generally distinguished by the title of Naudowessies of 
the Plains, and inhabit a country more to the westward. 
The name of the former are Nehogatawonahs, the 
Mawtawbauntowahs, and Shashweentowahs. 



CAVE AND BURIAL TLACE NEAR ST. PAUL. 207 

Arriving at what is now a suburb of the capital of 
Minnesota, he continues, "about thirteen miles below 
the Falls of St. Anthony, at which I arrived the tenth 
day after I left Lake Pepin, is a remarkable cave of an 
amazing depth. The Indians term it Wakon-teebe (Wa- 
kan-tipi) . The entrance into it is about ten feet wide, the 
height of it five feet. The arch within is near fifteen feet 
high, and about thirty feet broad ; the bottom consists of 
fine clear sand. About thirty feet from the entrance, 
begins a lake, the water of which is transparent, and ex- 
tends to an unsearchable distance, for the darkness of the 
cave prevents all attempts to acquire a knowledge of it. 
I threw a small pebble towards the interior part of it 
with my utmost strength ; I could hear that it fell into 
the water, and, notwithstanding it was of a small size, 
it caused an astonishing and terrible noise, that reverbe- 
rated through all those gloomy regions. I found in this 
cave many Indian hieroglyphics, which appeared very 
ancient, for time had nearly covered them with moss, 
so that it was with difficulty I could trace them. They 
were cut in a rude manner upon the inside of the wall, 
which was composed of a stone so extremely soft that it 
might be easily penetrated with a knife ; a stone every- 
where to be found near the Mississippi. 

" At a little distance from this dreary cavern, is the 
burying-place of several bands of the Naudowessie 
Indians. Though these people have no fixed residence, 
being in tents, and seldom but a few months in one 
spot, yet they always bring the bones of the dead to 
this place. 1 

1 The cave has been materially and the atmosphere. Years ago the 
altered by nearly a century's work top fell in, but on the side walls, not 
of those effective tools, frost, water, covered by debris, pictographs gray 



208 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

" Ten miles below the Falls of St. Anthony, the river 
St. Pierre, called by the natives Wadapaw Menesotor, 
falls into the Mississippi from the west. It is not men- 
tioned by Father Hennepin, though a large, fair river. 
This omission, I consider, must have proceeded from a 
small island (Faribault's), that is situated exactly in its 
entrance." 

When he reached the Minnesota river, the ice became 
so troublesome that he left his canoe in the neighbour- 
hood of what is now the ferry, and walked to St. 
Anthony, in company with a young Winnebago chief, 
who had never seen the curling waters. The chief, on 
reaching the eminence some distance below Cheever's, 
began to invoke his gods, and offer oblations to the 
spirit in the waters. 

" In the middle of the Falls stands a small island, 
about forty feet broad, and somewhat longer, on which 
grow a few cragged hemlock and spruce trees, and about 
half way between this island and the eastern shore, is a 
rock, lying at the very edge of the Falls, in an oblique 
position, that appeared to be about five or six feet broad, 
and thirty or forty long. At a little distance below the 

with age, are visible. In 1817, the It is now walled up and used as a 

present mouth of the cave was so root-house by the owner of the land, 

covered up, that Major Long, to use On the bluff above are numerous 

a vulgarism, was obliged to "creep mounds. Under the supervision of 

on all fours" to enter. In 1820, it the writer, one eighteen feet high and 

seems to have been closed, as School- two hundred and sixty feet in cir- 

craft describes another cave three cumference at the base, was opened 

miles above, as Carver's. Feathers- to the depth of three or four feet. 

tonhaugh made the same mistake. Fragments of skull, which crumbled 

" In 1837 Nicollet the astronomer on exposure, and perfect shells of 

and his assistants, worked many human teeth, the interior entirely 

hours and entered the little cavity decayed, were found, 
that remained. 



FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY IN 1766. 209 

Falls, stands a small island of about an acre and a half, 
on which grow a great number of oak trees." 

From this description, it would appear that the little 
island, now some distance in front of the Falls, was once 
in the very midst, and shows that a constant recession 
has been going on, and that in ages long past, they were 
not far from the Minnesota river. A century hence, if 
the wearing of the last fixe years is any criterion, the 
Falls will be above the town of St. Anthony. 

No description is more glowing than Carver's, of the 
country adjacent : — 

" The country around them is extremely beautiful. 
It is not an uninterrupted plain, where the eye finds no 
relief, but composed of many gentle ascents, which in 
the summer are covered with the finest verdure, and 
interspersed with little groves that give a pleasing 
variety to the prospect. On the whole, when the Falls 
are included, which may be seen at the distance of four 
miles, a more pleasing and picturesque view I believe 
cannot be found throughout the universe." 

He arrived at the Falls on the seventeenth of Novem- 
ber, 1766, and appears to have ascended as far as Elk 
river. 

On the twenty-fifth of November, he had returned to 
the place opposite the Minnesota, where he had left his 
canoe, and this stream as yet not being obstructed with 
ice. he commenced its ascent, with the colours of Great 
Britain flying at the stern of his canoe. There is no 
doubt that he entered this river, but how far he explored 
it cannot be ascertained. He speaks of the Rapids near 
Shokopay. and asserts that he went as far as two hundred 
miles beyond Mendota. He remarks : — 

" On the seventh of December, I arrived at the utmost 

14 



210 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

extent of my travels towards the West, where I met a 
large party of the Naudowessie Indians, among whom I 
resided some months." 

After speaking of the upper bands of the Dahkotahs 
and their allies, he adds that he " left the habitations 
of the hospitable Indians the latter end of April, 1767, 
but did not part from them for several days, as I was 
accompanied on my journey by near three hundred of 
them to the mouth of the river St. Pierre. At this 
season these bands annually go to the great cave (Day- 
ton's Bluff), before mentioned." 

When he arrived at the great cave, and the Indians 
had deposited the remains of their deceased friends in 
the burial-place that stands adjacent to it, they held 
their great council, to which he was admitted. 

When the Naudowessies brought their dead for inter- 
ment to the great cave (St. Paul), I attempted to get an 
insight into the remaining burial rites, but whether it 
was on account of the stench which arose from so many 
bodies, or whether they chose to keep this part of their 
custom secret from me, I could not discover. I found, 
however, that they considered my curiosity as ill-timed, 
and therefore I withdrew. * * * 

One formality among the Naudowessies in mourning 
for the dead, is very different from any mode I observed 
in the other nations through which I passed. The men, 
to show how great their sorrow is, pierce the flesh of 
their arms above the elbows with arrows, and the 
women cut and gash their legs with sharp broken flints 
till the blood flows very plentifully. * * * * * * * 

After the breath is departed, the body is dressed in 
the same attire it usually wore, his face is painted, and 
he is seated in an erect posture on a mat or skin, placed 



ALLEGED BURIAL SPEECH AT ST. PAUL. 211 

in the middle of the hut, with his weapons by his side. 
His relatives seated around, each harangues in turn the 
deceased ; and, if he has been a great warrior, recounts 
his heroic actions nearly to the following purport, which 
in the Indian language is extremely poetical and pleas- 
ing :— 

" You still sit among us, brother, your person retains 
its usual resemblance, and continues similar to ours, 
without any visible deficiency, except it has lost the 
power of action! But whither is that breath flown, 
which a few hours ago sent up smoke to the Great 
Spirit ? Why are those lips silent that lately delivered 
to us expressions and pleasing language ? Why are 
those feet motionless that a short time ago were fleeter 
than the deer on yonder mountains ? Why useless 
hang those arms that could clhnb the tallest tree, or 
draw the toughest bow ? Alas ! every part of that frame 
which we lately beheld with admiration and wonder, is 
now become as inanimate as it was three hundred years 
ago ! We will not, however, bemoan thee as if thou 
wast for ever lost to us, or that thy name would be 
buried in oblivion — thv soul yet lives in the great 
country of Spirits with those of thy nation that have 
gone before thee; and, though we are left behind to 
perpetuate thy fame, we shall one day join thee. 

•• Actuated by the respect we bore thee whilst living, 
we now come to tender thee the last act of kindness in 
our power; that thy body might not lie neglected on 
the plain and become a prey to the beasts of the field 
or fowls of the air, we will take care to lay it with those 
of thy predecessors who have gone before thee ; hoping 
at the same time that thy spirit will feed with their 



212 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

spirits and be ready to receive ours when we shall also 
arrive at the great country of souls." 

For this speech Carver is principally indebted to his 
imagination, but il is well conceived, and suggested one 
of Schiller's poems. 1 

It appears from other sources that Carver's visit to 
the Dahkotahs was of some effect in bringing about 
friendly intercourse between them and the commander 
of the English force at Mackinaw. 

The earliest mention of the Dahkotahs, in any public 
British documents that we know of, is in the correspond- 
ence between Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of 
Indian Affairs for the Colony of New York, and General 
Gage, in command of the forces. 

On the eleventh of September, less than six months 
after Carver's speech at Dayton's Bluff, and the de- 
parture of a number of chiefs to the English fort at 
Mackinaw, Johnson writes to General Gage : — " Though 
I wrote to you some days ago, yet I would not mind 
saying something again on the score of the vast expenses 
incurred, and, as I understand, still incurring at Michi- 
limackinac, chiefly on pretence of making a peace 
between the Sioux and Chippeweighs, with which I 
think we have very little to do, in good policy or other- 
wise." 

Sir William Johnson, in a letter to Lord Hillsborough, 
one of his Majesty's ministers, dated August seventeenth, 
1768, again refers to the subject: — 

" Much greater part of those who go a trading are 
men of such circumstances and disposition as to venture 
their persons everywhere for extravagant gains, yet the 

1 For translations of Schiller, see Chapter III. p. 89. 



PROPOSED PACIFIC ROAD. 213 

consequences to the public are not to be slighted, as we 
may be led into a general quarrel through their means. 
The Indians in the part adjacent to Michilimackinac 
have been treated with at a very great expense for some 
time previous. 

" Major Rodgers brings a considerable charge against 
the former for mediating a peace between some tribes 
of the Sioux and some of the Chippeweighs, which, had 
it been attended with success, would only have been 
interesting to a very few French, and others, that had 
goods in that part of the Indian country, but the con- 
trary has happened, and they are now more violent, and 
war against one another." 

Though a wilderness of over one thousand miles inter- 
vened between the Falls of St. Anthony and the white 
settlements of the English, Carver was impressed with 
the idea that the state now organized under the name 
of Minnesota, on account of its beauty and fertility, 
would attract settlers. 

Speaking of the advantages of the country, he says 
that the future population will be " able to convey their 
produce to the seaports with great facility, the current 
of the river from its source to its entrance into the Gulf 
of Mexico, being extremely favourable for doing this in 
small craft. This might also in time be facilitated by 
canals or shorter cuts, and a communication opened by 
water with New York, by way of the Lakes!' 

The subject of this sketch was also confident that a 
route could be discovered by way of the Minnesota river, 
which " would open a passage for conveying intelligence 
to China, and the English settlements in the East 
Indies." 

Carver, having returned to England, interested Whit- 



214 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

worth, a member of Parliament, in the Northern route. 
Had not the American Revolution commenced, they 
proposed to have built a fort at Lake Pepin, to have 
proceeded up the Minnesota, until they found, as they 
supposed they could, a branch of the Missouri, and from 
thence journeying over the summit of lands, until they 
came to a river which they called Oregon, they expected 
to descend to the Pacific. 

Carver, in common with other travellers, had his 
theory in relation to the origin of the Dahkotahs. He 
supposed that they came from Asia, He remarks, 
" But this might have been at different times and from 
various parts — from Tartary, China, Japan, for the inha- 
bitants of these places resemble each other. * * * * 

"It is very evident that some of the names and cus- 
toms of the American Indians resemble those of the 
Tartars, and I make no doubt but that in some future 
era, and this not very distant, it will be reduced to 
certainty that during some of the wars between the 
Tartars and the Chinese, a part of the inhabitants of 
the northern provinces were driven from their native 
country, and took refuge in some of the isles before 
mentioned, and from thence found their way into Ame- 
rica. ****** 

" Many words are used both by the Chinese and In- 
dians which have a resemblance to each other, not only 
in their sound but in their signification. The Chinese 
call a slave Shungo; and the Naudowessie Indians, 
whose language, from their little intercourse with the 
Europeans, is least corrupted, term a dog Shungush 
(Shoankah). The former denominate our species of 
their tea Shoushong ; the latter call their tobacco Shous- 
as-sau (Chanshasha) . Many other of the words used 



EXAMINATION OF THE CARVER CLAIM. 215 

by the Indians contain the syllables die, chaw, and chu, 
after the dialect of the Chinese." The comparison of 
languages has become a rich source of historical know- 
ledge, yet very many of the analogies traced are fanciful. 
The remark of Humboldt in " Cosmos" is worthy of re- 
membrance : — " As the structure of American idioms 
appears remarkably strange to nations speaking the 
modern languages of Western Europe, and who readily 
suffer themselves to be led away by some accidental 
analogies of sound, theologians have generally be- 
lieved that they could trace an affinity with the 
Hebrew, Spanish colonists with the Basque and the 
English, or French settlers with Gaelic, Erse, or the 
Bas Breton. I one day met on the coast of Peru, a 
Spanish naval officer and an English whaling captain, 
the former of whom declared that he had heard Basque 
spoken at Tahiti; the other, Gaelic or Erse at the 
Sandwich Islands.'" 

Carver became very poor while in England, and was 
a clerk in a lottery office. He died in 1780, and left a 
widow, two sons, and five daughters, in New England, 
and also a child by another wife that he had married in 
Great Britain. 

After his death a claim was urged for the land upon 
which the capital of Minnesota now stands, and for 
many miles adjacent. As there are still many persons 
who believe that they have some right through certain 
deeds purporting to be from the heirs of Carver, it is a 
matter worthy of an investigation. 

Carver says nothing in his book of travels in relation 
to a grant from the Dahkotahs, but after he was buried, 
it was asserted that there was a deed belonging to him 
in existence, conveying valuable lands, and that said 



216 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



deed was executed at the cave now in the eastern 
suburbs of Saint Paul. 1 

The original deed was never exhibited by the 
assignees of the heirs. By his English wife Carver had 
one child, a daughter Martha, who was cared for by Sir 
Richard and Lady Pearson. In time she eloped and 
married a sailor. A mercantile firm in London, thinking 
that money could be made, induced the newly married 
couple, the day after the wedding, to convey the grant 
to them, with the understanding that they were to have 
a tenth of the profits. 

The merchants despatched an agent by the name of 
Clarke to go to the Dahkotahs, and obtain a new deed ; 
but on his way he was murdered in the State of New 
York. 



1 Deed purporting to have been 

given at the cave in the bluff 

below St. Paul. 

" To Jonathan Carver, a Chief 
under the most mighty and potent 
George the Third King of the Eng- 
lish, and other nations, the fame of 
whose warriors has reached our ears, 
and has now been fully told us by 
our good brother Jonathan, aforesaid, 
whom we rejoice to have come among 
us, and bring us good news from his 
country. 

"We, Chiefs of the Naudowessies, 
who have hereunto set our seals, do 
by these presents, for ourselves and 
heirs forever, in return for the aid 
and other good services done by the 
said Jonathan to ourselves and allies, 
give, grant, and convey to him, the 
said Jonathan, and to his heirs and 
assigns forever, the whole of a certain 
tract of territorv of land, bounded 



as follows, viz : from the Falls of St. 
Anthony, running on east bank of 
the Mississippi, nearly south-east, 
as far as Lake Pepin, where the 
Chippewa joins the Mississippi, and 
from thence eastward, five days tra- 
vel accounting twenty English miles 
per day, and from thence again to 
the Falls of St. Anthony, on a direct 
straight line. We do for ourselves, 
heirs, and assigns, forever give unto 
the said Jonathan, his heirs and 
assigns, with all the trees, rocks, 
and rivers therein, reserving the sole 
liberty of hunting and fishing on 
land not planted or improved by the 
said Jonathan, his heirs and assigns, 
to which we have affixed our respec- 
tive seals. 

" At the Great Cave, May 1st, 
1767." 

" Signed, Hawnopawjatin. 

Otohtongoomlisheaw. 



CARVER'S CLAIM BEFORE CONGRESS. 217 

In the year 1794, the heirs of Carver's American 
wife, in consideration of fifty thousand pounds sterling, 
conveyed their interest in the Carver grant to Edward 
Houghton of Vermont. In the year 1806, Samuel 
Peters, 1 who had been a tory and an Episcopal minister 
during the Revolutionary war, alleges, in a petition to 
Congress, that he had also purchased of the heirs of 
Carver their rights to the grant. 

Before the Senate Committee, the same year, he 
testified as follows : — 

"In the year 1774, I arrived there (London), and 
met Captain Carver. In 1775, Carver had a hearing 
before the king, praying his majesty's approval of a 
deed of land dated May first, 1767, and sold and granted 
to him by the Naudowissies. The result was his majesty 
approved of the exertions and bravery of Captain Carver 
among the Indian nations, near the Falls of St. Anthony, 
in the Mississippi, gave to said Carver 1373Z. 13s. Sd. 
sterling, and ordered a frigate to be prepared, and a 
transport ship to carry one hundred and fifty men, 
under command of Captain Carver, with four others as 
a committee, to sail next June to New Orleans, and 
then to ascend the Mississippi to take possession of said 
territory conveyed to Captain Carver, but the battle of 
Bunker Hill prevented." 2 

In 1821, General Leavenworth, having made inqui- 
ries of the Dahkotahs, in relation to the alleged claim, 
addressed the following to the commissioner of the land 
office : — 



1 Said to have been the author of the great-grandson of Governor John 
a fictitious work called " Connecticut Carver, the first Chief Magistrate of 
Blue Laws." Plymouth Colony. 

2 Peters also testified that he was 



218 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

" Sir : — Agreeably to your request, I have the honour 
to inform you what I have understood from the Indians 
of the Sioux Nation, as well as some facts within my. 
own knowledge, as to what is commonly termed Car- 
ver's Grant. The grant purports to be made by the 
chiefs of the Sioux of the Plains, and one of the chiefs 
uses the sign of a serpent, and the other a turtle, pur- 
porting that their names are derived from those animals. 

" The land lies on the east side of the Mississippi. 
The Indians do not recognise or acknowledge the grant 
to be valid, and they among others assign the follow- 
ing reasons : — 

" 1. The Sioux of the Plains never owned a foot of 
land on the east side of the Mississippi. The Sioux 
Nation is divided into two grand divisions, viz : The 
Sioux of the Lake, or perhaps more literally Sioux of 
the River, and Sioux of the Plain. The former subsists 
by hunting and fishing, and usually move from place to 
place by water, in canoes, during the summer season, 
and travel on the ice in the winter, when not on their 
hunting excursions. The latter subsist entirely by 
hunting, and have no canoes, nor do they know but 
little about the use of them. They reside in the large 
prairies west of the Mississippi, and follow the buffalo, 
upon which they entirely subsist ; .these are called Sioux 
of the Plain, and never owned land east of the Mis- 
sissippi. 

" 2. The Indians say they have no knowledge of any 
such chiefs, as those who have signed the grant to 
Carver, either amongst the Sioux of the River, or Sioux 
of the Plain. They say that if Captain Carver did ever 
obtain a deed or grant, it was signed by some foolish 
young men who were not chiefs, and who were not 



LEAVENWORTH'S LETTER ON THE GRANT. 219 

authorized to make a grant. Among the Sioux of the 
River there are no such names. 

" 3. They say the Indians never received anything 
for the land, and they have no intention to part with 
it, without a consideration. From my knowledge of 
the Indians, I am induced to think they would not 
make so considerable a grant, and have it go into full 
effect, without receiving a substantial consideration. 

"4. They have, and ever have had, the possession 
of the land, and intend to keep it. I know that they 
are very particular in making every person who wishes 
to cut timber on that tract, obtain their permission to 
do so, and to obtain payment for it. In the month of 
May last, some Frenchmen brought a large raft of red 
cedar timber out of the Chippewa river, which timber 
was cut on the tract before mentioned. The Indians at 
one of the villages on the Mississippi, where the prin- 
cipal chief resided, compelled the Frenchmen to land 
the raft, and would not permit them to pass until they 
had received pay for the timber ; and the Frenchmen 
were compelled to leave their raft with the Indians 
until they went to Prairie du Chien, and obtained the 
necessary articles, and made the payment required." 

On the twenty-third of January, 1823, the Committee 
of Public Lands made a report on the claim to the 
Senate, which, to every disinterested person, is entirely 
satisfactory. After stating the facts of the petition, the 
report continues : — 

" The Rev. Samuel Peters, in his petition, further 
states that Lefei, the present Emperor of the Sioux and 
Naudowessies, and Red Wing, a Sachem, the heirs and 
successors of the two grand chiefs who signed the said 
deed to Captain Carver, have given satisfactory and 



220 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

positive proof, that they allowed their ancestors' deed to 
be genuine, good, and valid, and that Captain Carver's 
heirs and assigns are the owners of said territory, and 
may occupy it free of all molestation. 

" The committee have examined and considered the 
claims thus exhibited by the petitioners, and remark 
that the original deed is not produced, nor any compe- 
tent legal evidence offered, of its execution ; nor is there 
any proof that the persons, whom it is alleged made the 
deed, were the chiefs of said tribe, nor that (if chiefs) 
they had authority to grant and give away the land 
belonging to their tribe. The paper annexed to the 
petition, as a copy of said deed, has no subscribing wit- 
nesses; and it would seem impossible at this remote 
period, to ascertain the important fact, that the persons 
who signed the deed comprehended and understood the 
meaning and effect of their act. 

" The want of proof as to these facts, would interpose 
in the way of the claimants insuperable difficulties. 
But, in the opinion of the committee, the claim is not 
such as the United States are under any obligation ta 
allow, even if the deed were proved in legal form. 

" The British government, before the time when the 
alleged deed bears date, had deemed it prudent and 
necessary, for the preservation of peace with the Indian 
tribes under their sovereignty, protection, and dominion, 
to prevent British subjects from purchasing lands from 
the Indians ; and this rule of policy was made known 
and enforced by the proclamation of the king of Great 
Britain, of seventh October, 1763, which contains an 
express prohibition. 

" Captain Carver, aware of the law, and knowing that 
such a contract could not vest the legal title in him,. 



REPORT OF SENATE COMMITTEE. 221 

applied to the British government to ratify and confirm 
the Indian grant, and though it was competent for that 
government then to confirm the grant, and vest the title 
of said land in him, yet, from some cause, that govern- 
ment did not think proper to do it. 

" The territory has since become the property of the 
United States, and an Indian grant, not good against 
the British government, would appear to be not binding 
upon the United States government. 

" What benefit the British government derived from 
the services of Captain Carver, by his travels and resi- 
dence among the Indians, that government alone could 
determine, and alone could judge what remuneration 
those services deserved. 

" One fact appears from the declaration of Mr. Peters, 
in his statement in writing, among the papers exhibited, 
namely, that the British government did give Captain 
Carver the sum of one thousand three hundred and 
seventy-five pounds six shillings and eight pence ster- 
ling. 1 To the United States, however, Captain Carver 
rendered no services which could be assumed as any 
equitable ground for the support of the petitioners' 
claim. 

" The committee being of opinion that the United 
States are not bound, in law or equity, to confirm the 
said alleged Indian grant, recommend the adoption of 
the following resolution : — 

" ' Resolved, that the prayer of the petitioners ought 
not to be granted." ' 

1 Lord Palmerston stated in 1839, papers, showing any ratification of 
that no trace could be found in the the Carver grant, 
records of the British office of state 



222 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Sustained by French influence and fire-arms, the 
Ojibways began to advance into the Dahkotah country. 
Carver found the two nations at war in 1766, and was 
told that they had been fighting forty years. Pike, 
when at Leech Lake, in 1806, met an aged Ojibway 
chief, called " Sweet," who said that the Dahkotahs lived 
there when he was a young man. 

Ojibway tradition says that about one hundred and 
twenty-five years ago, a large war party was raised to 
march against a Dahkotah village at Sandy Lake ; the 
leader's name was Biauswah, grandfather of a well 
known chief of that name at Sandy Lake. 

Some years after Sandy Lake had been taken by this 
chief, sixty Ojibways descended the Mississippi. On 
their return, at the confluence of the Crow Wing and 
Mississippi, they saw traces of a large Dahkotah party 
that had ascended to their village, and probably killed 
their wives and children. Digging holes in the ground 
they concealed themselves, and awaited the descent of 
their enemies. The Dahkotahs soon came floating down, 
singing songs of triumph and beating the drum, with 
scalps dangling from poles. The Dahkotahs were Hve 
times as many as the Ojibways, but when the latter 



ORIGIN OF THE NAME PILLAGER. 223 

beheld the reeking scalps of their relatives they were 
nerved to fight with desperation. The battle soon com- 
menced, and when arms and ammunition failed, they 
dug holes near to each other and fought with stones. 
The bravest fought hand to hand with knives and clubs. 
The conflict lasted three days, till the Dahkotahs at last 
retreated. The marks of this battle are still thought to 
be visible. 

The band of Ojibways, living at Leech Lake, have 
long borne the name of " Pillagers," from the fact that, 
while encamped at a small creek on the Mississippi, 
ten miles from Crow Wing river, they robbed a trader 
of his goods. 

Very near the period that France ceded Canada to 
England, the last conflict of the Foxes and Ojibways 
took place at the Falls of the St. Croix. 

The account which the Ojibways give of this battle 
is, that a famous war chief of Lake Superior, whose 
name was Waub-o-jeeg, or White Fisher, sent his war 
club and wampum of war to call the scattered bands of 
the Ojibway tribes, to collect a war party to march 
against the Dahkotah villages on the St. Croix and 
Mississippi. Warriors from St. Marie, Keweenaw, Wis- 
consin, and Grand Portage joined his party, and with 
three hundred warriors, Waub-o-jeeg started from La 
Pointe to march into the enemy's country. He had 
sent his war club to the village of Sandy Lake, and 
they had sent tobacco in return, with answer that on a 
certain day. sixty men from that section of the Ojibway 
tribe would meet him at the confluence of Snake river 
with the St. Croix. On reaching this point on the day 
designated, and the Sandy Lake party not having 
arrived as agreed upon, Waub-o-jeeg, not confident in 



324 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the strength of his numbers, continued down the St. 
Croix. They arrived at the Falls of St. Croix early in 
the morning, and, while preparing to take their bark 
canoes over the portage, or carrying place, scouts were 
sent in advance to reconnoitre. They soon returned 
with the information that they had discovered a large 
party of Foxes and Dahkotahs landing at the other end 
of the portage. 

The Ojibways instantly prepared for battle, and the 
scouts of the enemy having discovered them, the hostile 
parties met as if by mutual appointment, in the middle 
of the portage. The Foxes, after seeing the compara- 
tively small number of the Ojibways, and over confident 
in their own superior numbers and prowess, requested 
the Dahkotahs not to join in the fight, but to sit by and 
see how quickly they could rout the Ojibways. This 
request was granted. The fight between the contend- 
ing warriors, is said to have been fiercely contested, and 
embellished with many daring acts of personal valour. 
About noon the Foxes commenced yielding ground, and 
at last were forced to flee in confusion. They would 
probably have been driven into the river and killed to 
a man, had not their allies the Dahkotahs, who had 
been quietly smoking their pipes and calmly viewing 
the fight from a distance, at this juncture, yelled their 
war whoop, and rushed to the rescue of their discomfited 
friends. 

The Ojibways resisted their new enemies manfully, 
and it was not until their ammunition had entirely 
failed that they in turn showed their backs in flight. 
Few would have returned to their lodges to tell the sad 
tale of defeat, and death of brave men, had not the 
party of sixty warriors from Sandy Lake, who were to 



DEFEAT OF FOXES AT FALLS OF ST. CROIX. 225 

have joined them at the mouth of Snake river, arrived 
at this opportune moment, and landed at the head of 
the portage. 

Eager for the fight and fresh on the field, this band 
withstood the onset of the Dahkotahs and Foxes, till 
their retreating friends could rally again to the battle. 
The Dahkotahs and Foxes in turn fled, and it is said 
that the slaughter in their ranks was great. Many 
were driven over the rocks into the boiling flood below ; 
and every crevice in the cliffs contained a dead or 
wounded enemy. 

From this time the Foxes retired to the south, and 
for ever gave up the war with their victorious enemies. 

Tradition says that, while the English had possession 
of what is now Minnesota, and while they occupied a 
trading post near the confluence of the waters of the 
Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, the M'de-wa-kan-ton- 
wan Dahkotahs sent the " bundle of tobacco" to their 
friends, the Wa-rpe-ton-wan, Si-si-ton-wan, and I-han- 
kton-wan bands, who joined them in an expedition 
against the Ojibways of Lake Superior. Notwithstand- 
ing the great strength of the party, they found and 
scalped only a single family of their enemies. 

Soon after their return to their own country, a quar- 
rel arose between a M'dewakantonwan named Ixkatape 
(Toy) and their trader. The Indian name of the trader 
was Pagonta, Mallard Duck. The result of the quarrel 
was, that one day as the unsuspecting Englishman sat 
quietly smoking his Indian pipe in his rude hut near 
Mendota, he was shot dead. 

At this time some of the bands of the Dahkotahs had 
learned to depend very much upon the trade for the 
means by which they subsisted themselves. At an 

15 



226 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

earlier period it would have been to them a matter of 
trifling importance whether a white man wintered with 
them or not. 

In consequence of the murder, the trade was tempo- 
rarily withdrawn. This was at that time a severe 
.measure, and reduced these bands to sufferings which 
they could not well endure. They had no ammunition, 
no traps, no blankets. For the whole long dreary winter, 
they were the sport of cold and famine. That was one 
of the severest winters that the M'dewakantonwans ever 
experienced, and they had not even a pipe of tobacco to 
smoke over their unprecedented misery. They hardly 
survived. 

On the opening of spring, after much deliberation, it 
was determined that the brave and head men of the 
band should take the murderer, and throw themselves 
at the feet of their English Fathers in Canada. Accord- 
ingly, a party of about one hundred of their best men 
and women left Mendota early in the season, and de- 
scended the Mississippi in their canoes to the mouth 
of the Wisconsin. From thence they paddled up the 
Wisconsin, and down the Fox river to Green Bay. By 
this time, however, more than half their number had 
meanly enough deserted them. While they were en- 
tamped at Green Bay, all but six, a part of whom were 
females, gave up the enterprise, and disgracefully re- 
turned, bringing the prisoner with them. The courage, 
the bone and sinew of the M'dewakantonwan band 
might have been found in that little remnant of six 
men and women. 

Wapashaw, the grandfather of the present chief who 
bears that name, was the man of that truly heroic little 



WAPASHAW AT MONTREAL. 227 

half-dozen. With strong hearts, and proud perseverance, 
they toiled on till they reached Quebec. 

Wapashaw, placing himself at the head of the little 
deserted band, far from home and friends, assumed the 
guilt of the cowardly murderer, and nobly gave him- 
self up into the hands of justice for the relief of his 
suffering people. 

After they had given him a few blows with the stem 
of the pipe through which Pagonta was smoking when 
he was killed, the English heard Wapashaw with that 
noble generosity which he merited. 

He represented the Dahkotahs as living in seven 
bands, and received a like number of chiefs' medals; 
one of which was hung about his own neck, and the 
remaining six were to be given, one to each of the chief 
men of the other bands. 

It would be highly gratifying to know who were the 
persons who received those six chiefs' medals; but, 
although not more than one century, at the longest, 
has passed, since Wapashaw's visit to Canada, it cannot 
now be certainly ascertained to which divisions of the 
Dahkotah tribe they belonged ; it seems most probable, 
however, that the following were the seven divisions to 
which Wapashaw referred, viz. : — M'de-wa-kan-ton-wan, 
Wa-rpe-kute, Wa-rpe-ton-wan, Si-si-ton-wan, I-han-kton- 
wan, I-han-k ton-wan-nan, and Ti-ton-wan. 

The names of this little band of braves are all lost 
but that of Wapashaw. They wintered in Canada, and 
all had the small-pox. By such means Wapashaw re- 
opened the door of trade, and became richly entitled to 
the appellation of the Benefactor of the Dahkotah tribe. 
Tradition has preserved the name of no greater nor 
better man than Wapashaw. 



228 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Wapashaw did not, however, end his days in peace. 
The vile spirit of the fratricidal Cain sprung up among 
his brothers, and he was driven into exile by their mur- 
derous envy. To their everlasting shame be it recorded, 
that he died far away from the M'dewakantonwan vil- 
lage, on the Hoka river. It is said that the father of 
Wakute was his physician, who attended on him in his 
last illness. The Dahkotahs will never forget the name 
of Wapashaw. 1 

During the war of the Revolution, De Peyster was 
the British officer in command at Mackinaw. Having 
made an alliance with Wapashaw, the chief desired 
that, on his annual visit, he should be received with 
more distinction than the chiefs of other nations. This 
respect was to. be exhibited by firing the cannon charged 
with ball, in the place of blank cartridge, on his arrival, 
so that his young warriors might be accustomed to fire- 
arms of large calibre. 

On the sixth of July, 1779, a number of Choctaws, 
Chickasaws, and Ojibways were on a visit to the 
fort, when Wapashaw appeared; and great was their 
astonishment when they beheld balls discharged from 
the cannons of the fort flying over the canoes, and the 
Dahkotah braves lifting their paddles as if to strike 
them, and crying out, u Taya ! taya !" 

De Peyster, who was fond of rhyming, composed a 
rude song, suggested by the scene, which is copied as a 
curiosity : — 

" Hail to the chief! who his buffalo's back straddles, 
When in his own country, far, far, from this fort ; 
Whose brave young canoe-men, here hold up their paddles, 
In hopes, that the whizzing balls, may give them sport. 

1 G. H. Pond. 



EXPEDITION TO PRAIRIE DU CHIEN IN 1780. 229 

Hail to great Wapashaw ! 

He comes, beat drums, the Scioux chief comes. 

" They now strain their nerves till the canoe runs bounding, 
As swift as the Solen goose skims o'er the wave, 
While on the Lake's border, a guard is surrounding 
A space, where to land the Scioux so brave. 
Hail ! to great Wapashaw ! 
Soldiers ! your triggers draw ! 
Guard ! wave the colours, and give him the drum. 
Choctaw and Chickasaw, 
Whoop for great Wapashaw ; 
Raise the portcullis, the King's friend is come. 1 

When the news reached Mackinaw that Colonel 
George R. Clark, in command of Virginia troops, was 
taking possession of the Wabash and Mississippi settle- 
ments, and establishing the jurisdiction of Virginia, the 
English traders became uneasy lest the Americans 
should advance to the far North-west. As a precau- 
tionary measure they formed themselves into a militia 
company, of which John McNamara was captain, and 
a trader by the name of J. Long lieutenant. 

In the month of June, 1780, the intelligence was 
received from the Mississippi that the traders had depo- 
sited their furs at the Indian settlement of Prairie du 
Chien, and had left them in charge of Langlade, the 
king's interpreter ; and also that the Americans were 
in great force in the Illinois country. 

By request of the commanding officer at Mackinaw, 
Long went to Prairie du Chien, with twenty Canadians, 

1 These uncouth lines are from a he seems to have been popular with 

volume of miscellanies published by the traders. When he was ordered 

De Peyster, at Dumfries, Scotland, in to another post, they presented him 

1812, in the possession of Hon. L. C. with a silver punch bowl, gilt inside, 

Draper, Secretary of the Wisconsin holding a gallon and a half, and a 

Historical Society. De Peyster's wife silver ladle, as a mark of regard, 
accompanied him to Mackinaw, and 



230 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

and thirty-six Fox and Dahkotah Indians, in nine large 
birch canoes. 

One day, while camping on the Wisconsin river, they 
discovered a small log hut, in which was a trader, with 
his arms cut off, lying on his back, who had been mur- 
dered by the Indians. 

The next day the expedition arrived at the " Forks 
of the Mississippi," where two hundred Fox Indians, on 
horseback, armed with spears, bows, and arrows, awaited 
them. Among the Dahkotah Indians of the party was 
Wapashaw, by whose order the birch canoes were brought 
to the shore. Upon landing the Foxes greeted Wapashaw 
and his party, and invited them to a feast of dog, bear, 
and beaver meat. 

After the feast a council was called, when the chief 
of the Foxes addressed Wapashaw to this effect : — 

" Brothers, we are happy to see you ; we have no 
bad heart against you. Although we are not the same 
nation by language, our hearts are the same. We are 
all Indians, and are happy to hear that our Great Father 
has pity on us, and sends us wherewithal to cover us, 
and enable us to hunt." 

To which Wapashaw replied : — 

" It is true, my children, our Great Father, has sent 
me this way to take the skins and furs that are in the 
Dog's Field (Prairie du Chien), under Captain Lang- 
lade's charge, lest the Great Knives (Americans) should 
plunder them. I am come with the white men to give 
you wherewithal to cover you, and ammunition to 
hunt." 

- Arriving at Prairie du Chien, the peltries were found 
in a log-house, guarded by Captain Langlade and some 
Indians. After resting a short period, the canoes were 



FORMATION OF NORTH-WEST COMPANY. 231 

filled with three hundred packs of the best skins, and 
the balance burned to keep them from the Americans, 
who a few days afterwards arrived for the purpose 
of attacking the post. 

At this period the M'dewakantonwan Dahkotahs had 
retired from the region of Mille Lac, and were residing 
at Penneshaw's 1 post, on the Minnesota, a few miles 
above its mouth. 

After the disturbance of commerce, incident to the 
cession of Canada, had ceased, the trade in furs began 
to revive. In the year 1766, traders left Mackinaw, 
and proceeded as far as Kamanistigoya, thirty miles 
east of Grand Portage. Thomas Curry shortly after 
ventured as far as the valley of the Saskatchewan, and 
his success in obtaining furs induced a Mr. James Fin- 
lay to establish a post in the same valley, as high as 
the forty-eighth and a half degree of latitude. 

The Hudson Bay Company were uneasy at this en- 
croachment of private enterprise upon the territory, and 
endeavoured to counteract it, though without success. 

About the year 1780, two establishments on the 
Assiniboine river were destroyed by the Indians, and a 
plot laid to extirpate the traders, but that "noisome 
pestilence," the small pox, breaking out among the 
tribes, their attention was diverted. 

During the winter of 1783-4, there was a partnership 
formed by a number of traders, which was called the 
North-west Company. There were at first but sixteen 
shares, and the management of the whole was entrusted 
to the brothers Frobisher and McTavish, at Montreal. 

A few that were dissatisfied, formed an opposition 

1 The same individual called Penneshon and Pinchon. 



232 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. 

company, one of the members of which was the explorer 
and author Alexander Mackenzie. After a keen rivalry, 
this company was merged with the North-west in 1787, 
and the number of shares was increased to twenty. 

From that time the fur trade of the north-west was 
systematized. The agents at Montreal received the 
goods from England, and two of them went every year 
to the Grand Portage of Lake Superior, to receive packs 
and ship the furs for Europe. 

In 1798, the company was re-organized, new partners 
admitted, and the shares increased to forty-six. 

The magnitude of the operations of the company sur- 
prise us. At the close of the last century, they em- 
ployed fifty clerks, seventy-one interpreters, eleven 
hundred and twenty canoe-men. Eive clerks, eighteen 
guides, and three hundred and fifty canoe-men were 
employed between the head of Lake Superior and Mon- 
treal. The others were in Minnesota, and the country 
above. The canoe-men were known as " Pork Eaters," 
or " Goers and Comers," and " Winterers," the latter so 
called because they entered the interior and passed the 
winter in traffic with the Indians, received double wages, 
and were hired from one to three years. The clerks 
were a kind of apprentices, and received a salary of one 
hundred pounds, with their board and clothing, with 
the prospect of being taken into partnership, if they 
proved good business men. The guides and interpreters 
were paid in goods. 

In July the " Winterers" began to assemble at Grand 
Portage to settle their accounts and receive new outfits, 
and at times more than one thousand were congregated. 
The mode of living at the Portage was truly baronial. 
The proprietors, clerks, guides, and interpreters all ate in 



TRADERS AT SANDY LAKE AND PINE RIVER. L'oo 

one large hall, at different tables, and, the labours of the 
day over, the fiddlers were brought in and there was a 
merry time. The trader in his lonely outpost, con- 
sidered the reunions at Lake Superior halcyon days, and 
was buoyed up by anticipating the annual visit. 

The love of adventure has often led educated young 
men "into the woods," as well as "before the mast." 
Sailor life and Indian trade, unless there is strong reli- 
gious principle, are apt to render one " earthly, sensual 
and devilish." There have been scenes enacted in Min- 
nesota which will never be known till the judgment 
day, for ignorance of which we should be grateful. 

The history of one trader at an outpost, is substan- 
tially the history of all. 

In the year 1784, Alexander Kay visited Montreal 
to obtain an outfit for the purpose of trading at Fon du 
Lac, Leech Lake, and vicinity in Minnesota. A young 
-man, educated at the College of Quebec, named 
Perrault, became his clerk. They arrived at La Pointe 
on the first of November. 

On the little lake at the entrance of the St. Louis 
river, they found the quarters of Default, a clerk of the 
North-west Company. 

Kay while here was mad, in consequence of intoxica- 
tion, and with obstinacy pushed up the St. Louis river, 
with only a bag of flour, a keg of butter, and of sugar, 
while his party consisted of his squaw mistress, 
Perrault, and fourteen employees. At the portage of 
the river he met his partner, Mr. Harris, also without 
food, except some salt meat. 

The men now remonstrated with Kay about proceed- 
ing inland, with no provision for the winter ; but draw- 



234 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

ing a pistol, he threatened to shoot those that did not 
follow. 

Taking Mr. Harris, an Indian named Big Marten, 
and seven men, he pushed on in advance, and the next 
day sent back word that he had gone on to Pine River, 1 
and desiring his clerk to winter at the Savanne portage 
if possible. 

After eleven days' hard toil amid ice and snow, sub- 
sisting on the pods of the wild rose, and the sap of 
trees, Perrault and the men reached the point designated. 
For a time they lived there on a few roots and fish, but 
about Christmas, hunger compelled them to seek their 
employer at Pine River. Weak in body, they passed 
through Sandy Lake, descended the river, and at last 
arrived at Kay's post at Pine River. After he was 
recruited, Perrault was despatched to the Savanne 
portage, where, with his men, he built a log hut. 

Toward the close of February, Brechet, Big Marten, 
and other Ojibway Indians, brought in meat. Mr. Kay 
shortly after visited his clerk, and told the troubles he 
had with the Indians, who exceedingly hated him. In 
April Kay and Perrault visited Sandy Lake, where Bras 
Casse, or Broken Arm, or Bo-koon-ik, was the Ojibway 
chief. On the second of May, Kay went out to meet 
his partner Harris coming from Pine River. 

During his absence, Katawabada, 2 and Mongozid, and 
other Indians, came and demanded rum. After much 
entreaty Perrault gave them a little. Soon Harris, 
Kay, and Pinot arrived, all intoxicated. The Indians 
were ripe for mischief. An Indian, named Le Cousin 

- l Pine River is a tributary of the possible to reach Leech Lake by this 
Mississippi, about a day's journey stream. 

in a canoe from Sandy Lake. It is 2 Katawabada or Parted Teeth, 

died at Sandy Lake 1828. 



KAY WOUNDED IN A DRUNKEN REVEL. 235 

by the French, came to Kay's tent, and asked for rum, 
Kay told him " No," and pushed him out ; the Indian then 
drew a concealed knife, and stabbed him in the neck. 
Kay, picking up a carving knife, chased him, but before 
he could reach his lodge, the passage was blocked up by 
Indians. 

The assailant's mother, approaching Kay, said, " Eng- 
lishman ! do you come to kill me ?" and, while implor- 
ing for her son, with savage cruelty stabbed him in the 
side. 

Le Petit Mort, a friend of the wounded trader, took 
up his quarrel, and sallying forth, seized Cul Blanc, an 
Ojibway, by the scalp lock, and, drawing his head back, 
he plunged a knife into his breast, exclaiming "Die, 
thou dog !" 

The Indian women, becoming alarmed at this bac- 
chanal, went into the lodges and emptied out all the 
rum they could find. 

On the fifth of May, Kay's wound was better, and 
sending for Harris and Perrault to come to his tent, he 
said : — 

" Gentlemen, you see my situation ; I have determined 
to leave you at all hazards, to set out for Mackinaw, 
with seven men, accompanied by the Bras Casse* and 
wife. Assort the remainder of the goods, ascend to 
Leech Lake, and wait there for the return of the Pil- 
lagers, who are out on the prairies. Complete the inland 
trade." 

Kay, then takmg hold of Perrault's hand, Harris 
having retired, said : — 

" My dear friend ! you understand the language of 
the Ojibway s. Mr. Harris would go out with me. but 
he must accompany you. He is a good trader, but he 



236 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

has, like myself and others, a strong passion for drink 
ing, which takes away his judgment." 

In the afternoon Kay left, in a litter, for Mackinaw 
Perrault and Harris proceeded to Leech Lake, where 
they had a successful trade with the Pillagers. 

Returning to the Savannah river, they found J. 
Reaume there, and a Mr. Piquet. The former had 
wintered at the fort of Red Lake, at its entrance into 
Red River. 

They all proceeded by way of the Fond du Lac to 
Mackinaw, where they arrived on the twenty-fourth of 
May, and found Kay in much pain. The latter soon after 
this started for Montreal, but his wound suppurated on 
the journey, and he died at the Lake of the Two Moun- 
tains, August twenty-eighth, 1785. 1 

About the period of this occurrence, Prairie du Chien 
made its transition, from a temporary encampment of 
Indians and their traders, to a hamlet. Among the 
first settlers were Giard, Antaya, and Dubuque. 

In the year 1780, the wife of Peosta, a Fox warrior, 
discovered a large vein of lead, in Iowa, on the west 
bank of the Mississippi. 

At a council held at Prairie du Chien, in 1788, Julien 
Dubuque obtained permission to work the lead mines, 
on and near the site of the city that bears his name, 
and the bluff, on which is the little stone house that 
covers his remains. 

Towards the close of the last century we find Dick- 
son, Renville, Grignon, and others, trading with the 
Ojibways and Dahkotahs of Minnesota. In the employ- 

1 " History, condition, and pros- Mr. Schoolcraft says that Harris 
pects of the Indian Tribes of the was a native of Albany, and was 
United States," vol. iii. alive in 1830. 



JUDGE PERLIER, TRADER IN MINNESOTA. 237 

ment of the latter, at his trading-house on the river 
St. Croix, was James Perlier, a youth, who in the next 
century became one of the most useful citizens of Green 
Bay, Wisconsin. He was a native of Montreal, and 
arrived at Green Bay in 1791. Two years after he was 
employed by an old trader. Pierre Grignon, to act as 
clerk, at his trading post on the St. Croix. While 
there he found, with a band of Menomonees, an inte- 
resting girl, the daughter of a woman that had been 
abandoned by a French trader, with whom he fell in 
love, and married. In the year 1797, in company with 
Dickson, he wintered near Sauk Kapids. When Pike 
visited the country he was still engaged in trading 
above the Falls of St. Anthony, and he gave this 
young officer much information, which he deemed valua- 
ble. Returning to Wisconsin he acted as chief justice 
of Brown county, for a period of sixteen years, and died 
in 1839, much respected. 

While Perlier was wintering on the St. Croix, a 
broken-down merchant of Montreal, who had married 
a lady of wealth in that city, a pompous and ignorant 
man, full of eccentricity, by the name of Charles 
Reaume, was his companion. To the early settlers of 
Green Bay he was known as Judge Reaume. While 
on the St. Croix the following anecdote is related of 
him : — 

" One day he invited Perlier and other traders in the 
vicinity to dine with him. The guests had arrived, and 
the venison, cooked in bears' oil and maple sugar was 
prepared, when Amable Chevalier, a half-breed, told 
Reaume that there were not plates enough on the table, 
as there was none for him. ' Yes, there are enough,' 
said Reaume. sternly ; when the half-breed tore from 



238 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Eeaume's head his red cap, and spreading it upon the 
table, filled it with the hashed venison. Reaume, in 
retaliation, seizing a handful of meat, threw it into the 
half-breed's face. Becoming much excited, it was neces- 
sary for the guests to part the belligerents." 1 

In the year 1794, the North-west Company built an 
establishment at Sandy Lake, with bastions, and aper- 
tures in the angles for musketry. It was enclosed with 
pickets a foot square and thirteen feet in height. There 
were three gates, which were always closed after the 
Indians had received liquor. " The stockade enclosed 
two rows of buildings, containing the provision store, 
workshop, warehouse, room for clerks, and accommoda- 
tion for the men. On the west and south-west angles 
of the fort were four acres of ground, enclosed with 
pickets, and devoted to the culture of the potato." 

The British -posts were not immediately surrendered 
after the treaty of 1783 between Great Britain and 
America, and led to some ill-feeling upon the part of 
the United States. When Baron Steuben was sent by 
Washington, in 1784, to Detroit, to take possession of 
the fort, the British commandant informed him that he 
had no authority to deliver up the post, as it was on 
Indian territory. By the presence of British officials 
among the Indian tribes, a hostile feeling was main- 
tained towards the citizens of the United States, which 
led to the wars with the Indians toward the close of the 
last century. 

In the treaty effected by Mr. Jay, Great Britain 
agreed to withdraw her troops from all posts and places 
within the boundary lines assigned by the treaty of 

1 Wisconsin Historical Society Collections, vol. iii. 



NORTH-WEST CO. ESTABLISH POSTS IN MINNESOTA. 239 

peace to the United States, on or before the first day 
of June, 1796. The treaty also provided that all British 
settlers and traders might remain for one year, and 
enjoy all their former privileges without being com- 
pelled to be citizens of the United States. 

Taking advantage of this clause, the North-west 
Company, through the Fond du Lac department, dotted 
every suitable place in Minnesota with trading posts. 

They not only encircled the lakes, but did not pay 
duties nor apply for licenses. At these posts the British 
flag was hoisted; and they frequently created civil 
chiefs among the Indians, to whom they presented the 
colours and medals of his Britannic majesty. 



240 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

On the seventh of May, 1800, the North-west terri- 
tory, which included all of the western country east of 
the Mississippi, was divided. The portion not desig- 
nated as Ohio was organized as the Territory of Indiana. 

On the twentieth of December, 1803, the province of 
Louisiana, of which that portion of Minnesota west of 
the Mississippi was a part, was officially delivered up 
by the French, who had just obtained it from the 
Spaniards, according to treaty stipulations. 

To the transfer of Louisiana by France, after twenty 
days' possession, Spain at first objected; but in 1804 
withdrew all opposition. 

President Jefferson now deemed it an object of para- 
mount importance for the United States to explore the 
country so recently acquired, and make the acquaint- 
ance of the tribes residing therein ; and steps were taken 
for an expedition to the upper Mississippi. 

Early in March, 1804, Captain Stoddard, of the 
United States army, arrived at St. Louis, the agent of 
the French Eepublic, to receive from the Spanish 
authorities the possession of the country, which he 
immediately transferred to the United States. 



ORGANIZATION OF TERRITORIES. '241 

As the old settlers, on the tenth of March, saw the 
ancient flag of Spain displaced by that of the United 
States, the tears coursed down their cheeks. 

On the twentieth of the same month the territory of 
upper Louisiana was constituted, comprising the present 
states of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and a large portion 
of Minnesota. 

On the eleventh of January, 1805, the territory of 
Michigan was organized. 

The first American officer who visited Minnesota, 
on business of a public nature, was one who was an 
ornament to his profession, and in energy and endu- 
rance a true representative of the citizens of the United 
States. We refer to the gallant Zebulon Montgomery 
Pike, who afterwards fell in battle at York, Upper 
Canada, and whose loss was justly mourned by the 
whole nation. 

When a young lieutenant, he was ordered by General 
Wilkinson to visit the region now known as Minnesota, 
and expel the British traders who were found violating 
the laws of the United States, and form alliances with 
the Indians. With only a few common soldiers, he 
was obliged to do the work of several men. At times 
he would precede his party for miles to reconnoitre, and 
then he would do the duty of hunter. 

During the day he would perform the part of sur- 
veyor, geologist, and astronomer, and at night, though 
hungry and fatigued, his lofty enthusiasm kept him 
awake until he copied the notes, and plotted the courses 
of the day. 

On the fourth of September, 1805, Pike arrived at 
Prairie du Chien, from St. Louis, and was politely 

16 



242 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

treated by the traders, Fisher, 1 Frazer, 2 and Woods, 
who were there at that time. 

On the eighth, in two batteaux, with Joseph Renville 
and Pierre Rosseau as interpreters, he continued his 
ascent of the river. 

On the twelfth he was at the Prairie La Crosse, so 
called from the Indian game of ball, where he noticed 
some earth works, and holes that had been dug by the 
Dahkotahs to screen their wives and children during 
battle. At this place, Mr. Frazer, of Prairie du Chien, 
overtook him. 

Amid terrific thunder claps, forked lightning, and 
torrents of rain, he reached, on the seventeenth, Point 
de Sable, on Lake Pepin, where he took shelter, and 
remained the rest of the day. 

He here found a trader by the name of Cameron, and 
his son, also a young man, John Rudsdell. The next 
day he, in company with Cameron, came to Canoe river, 
where he found a small band under Red Wing, the- 
second war chief of the Dahkotahs. 

On the twenty-first he breakfasted at the village of 
the Kaposia band, which was on the site just below 
Saint Paul, now known as Pig's Eye. The same day he 
passed the encampment of a trader, J. B. Faribault, 3 

1 Fisher was a trader at Prarie du 3 " Jean Baptist Faribault is the 
Jhien until 1815. He then went to the last survivor of the old traders. He 

Red River of the North in the service is now more than eighty years of age, 
of the Hudson Bay Company. From and resides at Faribault, in Rice 
1824 to '26, he was at Lake Traverse, county, with his sons. He is a 
the source of the Minnesota. One native of Canada, and removed to this 
of his daughters is the mother of country, in 1798, fifty-seven years 
•Joseph Rolette of Pembina, by a ago. He enjoyed considerable ad- 
former husband, and afterwards vantages of education in early youth, 
married H. L. Dousman, Esq. His career in this region has been 

2 The father of Jack Frazer of marked with more of adverse fortune 
Mendota? than usually occurs, even in the- 



SALUTE FROM LITTLE CROW. 



243 



which was three miles below Mendota. Arriving at 
the confluence of the Minnesota and the Mississippi, he 
pitched his camp on the north-east point of the island. 

The next day was Sunday, and Little Crow, of the 
Kaposia village, arrived with one hundred and fifty 
warriors, ascending the hill which is now covered by 
Fort Snelling, they saluted him with balls according to 
their custom. During the day he went up to the Dah- 
kotah village, just above Mendota, to visit Mr. Cameron. 

On Monday he held a council with the Dahkotahs, 
and obtained a grant of land for the use of the United 
States. 1 His speech will always be interesting, as the 



perilous life of an Indian trader. 
Shortly after the close of the war 
with Great Britain he was robbed 
by the Winnebagoes at Prarie du 
Chien, of a large stock of goods, for 
which he never received any remu- 
neration. Some years subsequently 
he fixed his residence upon Pike's 
Island, near Fort St. Anthony (now 
Snelling), and had barely established 
himself in his vocation of trader when 
he was forced by the mandate of the 
commandant of the fort to abandon 
his buildings, and to betake himself, 
with his movable property, to the 
bottom land on the east side of the 
Mississippi, where he erected new 
tenements. The following spring, 
the water, which was unusually 
high, carried off his houses and live 
stock, he and his family escaping in 
boats, by means of which he was 
fortunately enabled to save his goods 
and furs from destruction. Still not 
discouraged, he built a house at the 
poin*i now known as Mendota, 



where he resided many years, except 
during the winter months, when he 
assumed charge of his trading post 
at Little Rapids, on the Minnesota 
river." — Sibley's Address. 

1 Whereas, at a conference held be- 
tween the United States of America, 
and the Sioux Nation of Indians, 
Lieutenant Z. M. Pike, of the army 
of the United States, and the chiefs 
and the warriors of said tribe, have 
agreed to the following articles, 
which, when ratified and approved 
of by the proper authority, shall be 
binding on both parties : 

Art. 1. That the Sioux Nation 
grant unto the United States, for the 
purpose of establishment of military 
posts, nine miles square, at the 
mouth of the St. Croix, also from 
below the confluence of the Missis- 
sippi and St. Peters, up the Missis- 
sippi to include the Falls of St. 
Anthony, extending nine miles on 
each side of the river, that the Sioux 
Nation grants to the United States 



244 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

first expression of the views of the United States to the 
Dahkotahs : — 

"Brothers — I am happy to meet you here at this 
council fire, which your father has sent me to kindle, 
and to take you by the hands as our children. We 
halving but lately acquired from the Spanish the exten- 
sive territory of Louisiana, our general has thought 
proper to send out a number of his warriors to visit all 
his red children; to tell them his will, and to hear 
what request they may have to make of their father. 
I am happy the choice has fell on me to come this road, 
as I find my brothers, the Sioux, ready to listen to my 
words. 

" Brothers — It is the wish of our Government to esta- 
blish military posts on the Upper Mississippi, at such 
places as might be thought expedient. I have, there- 
fore, examined the country, and have pitched on the 
mouth of the river St. Croix, this place, and the Falls 
of St. Anthony, I therefore wish you to grant to the 
United States, nine miles square, at St. Croix, and at 
this place, from a league below the confluence of the St. 
Peters and Mississippi, to a league above St. Anthony, 

the full sovereignty and power over undersigned, have hereunto set our 

said district forever. hands and seals, at the mouth of the 

Art. 2. That, in consideration of river St. Peters, on the 23d day of 

the above grants, the United States September, 1805. 

shall pay (filled up by the Senate Z. M. Pike. [l. s.] 

with 2,000 dollars). 1st Lieut, and agent at the above 

Art. 3. The United States pro- conference. 

mise, on their part, to permit the his 

Sioux to pass and re-pass, hunt, or Le Petit Corbeau. M [l. s.] 

make other use of the said districts mark 

as they have formerly done, without his 

any other exception than those Way Ago Enagee, X [l. s.J 

specified in article first. mark 

In testimony whereof, we, the 



PIKE'S SPEECH AT MOUTH OF MINNESOTA. 245 

extending three leagues on each side of the river ; and 
as we are a people who are accustomed to have all our 
acts written down, in order to have them handed to our 
children, I have drawn up a form of an agreement, 
which we will both sign in the presence of the traders 
now present. After we know the terms, we will fill it 
up, and have it read and interpreted to you. 

" Brothers — Those posts are intended as a benefit to 
you. The old chiefs now present must see that their 
situation improves by a communication with the whites. 
It is the intention of the United States to establish at 
those posts factories, in which the Indians may procure 
all their things at a cheaper and better rate than they 
do now, or than your traders can afford to sell them to 
you, as they are single men, who come far in small 
boats. But your fathers are many and strong, and will 
come with a strong arm, in large boats. There will 
also be chiefs here, who can attend to the wants of their 
brothers, without their sending or going all the way to 
St. Louis, and will see the traders that go up your 
rivers, and know that they are good men. 

" Brothers — Another object your father has at heart, 
is to endeavour to make peace between you and the 
Chippeways. You have now been a long time at war, 
and when will you stop ? If neither side will lay down 
the hatchet, your paths will always be red with blood ; 
but if you will consent to make peace, and suffer your 
father to bury the hatchet between you, I will endea- 
vour to bring down some of the Chippeway chiefs with 
me to St. Louis, where the good work can be completed, 
under the auspices of your mutual father. I am much 
pleased to see that the young warriors have halted here 
to hear my words this day; and as I know it is hard 



246 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

for a warrior to be struck and not strike again, I will 
send (by the first Chippeway I meet) word to their 
chiefs : — That if they have not yet felt your tomahawk, 
it is not because you have no legs, nor the hearts of 
men, but because you have listened to the voice of your 
father. 

" Brothers — If the chiefs do not listen to the voice of 
their father, and continue to commit murders on you 
and our traders, they will call down the vengeance of 
the Americans ; for they are not like a blind man walk- 
ing into the fire. They were once at war with us, and 
joined to all the Northern Indians, were defeated at 
Roche de Bceuf, and were obliged to sue for peace — 
that peace we granted them. They know we are not 
children, but, like all wise people, are slow to shed 
blood. 

" Brothers — Your old men probably know, that about 
thirty years ago we were subject to, and governed by 
the king of the English ; but he, not treating us like 
children, we would no longer acknowledge him as father 
— and after ten years war, in which he lost one hundred 
thousand men, he acknowledged us a free and inde- 
pendent nation. They know that not many years 
since, we received Detroit, Michilimackinac, and all the 
posts on the lakes, from the English, and now but the 
other day, Louisiana from the Spanish ; so that we put 
one foot on the sea at the east, and the other on the 
sea at the west ; and, if once children, are now men ; 
yet, I think the traders who come from Canada are bad 
birds amongst the Chippeways, and instigate them to 
make war on their red brothers, the Sioux, in order to 
prevent our traders from going high up the Mississippi. 



PIKE'S SPEECH AT MOUTH OF MINNESOTA. 2¥ 

This I shall inquire into, and, if so, warn those persons 
of their ill conduct. 

" Brothers — Mr. Choteau was sent by your father to 
the Osage Nation, with one of his young chiefs. He 
sailed some days before rne, and had not time to pro- 
cure the medals which I am told he promised to send 
up, but they will be procured. 

" Brothers — I wish you to have some pf your head 
chiefs to be ready to go down with me in the spring. 
From the head of the St. Pierre, also, such other 
chiefs as you may think proper, to the number of four 
or five. When I pass here, on my way, I will send 
you word at what time you will meet me at the Prairie 
des Chiens. 

" Brothers — I expect that you will give orders to all 
your young warriors to respect my flag and pi-otection 
which I may extend to the Chippeway chiefs who may 
come down with me in the spring ; for was a dog to run 
to my lodge for safety, his enemy must walk over me 
to hurt him. 

i: Brothers — Here is a flag, which I wish to send to 
Gens de Feuilles, to show them they are not forgotten 
by their father. I wish the comrade of their chief to 
take it on himself to deliver it with my words. 

" Brothers — I am told that hitherto the traders have 
made a practice of selling rum to you. All of you, in 
your right senses, must know that it is injurious ; and 
occasions quarrels and murders amongst yourselves. 
For this reason, your father has thought proper to pro- 
hibit the traders from selling you any rum. Therefore, 
I hope my brothers, the chiefs, when they know of a 
trader to sell an Indian rum, will prevent that Indian 
from paying his credit. This will break up the perni- 



248 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

cious practice, and oblige your father. But I hope you 
will not encourage your young men to treat our traders 
ill from this circumstance, or from a hope of the indul- 
gence formerly experienced; but make your complaints 
to persons in this country, who will be authorized to do 
you justice. 

"Brothers — I now present you with some of your 
father's tobacco, and some other trifling things, as a 
memorandum of my good will, and before my departure 
I will give you some liquor to clear your throats." 

On the morning after the council it was discovered 
that the flag, which had been hoisted from his boat, was 
gone. Calling the guard he had one whipped for his 
negligence. 

The next day, before he was out of his bed, Little 
Crow came bustling up from his village, flag in hand, 
which had been found floating down the river, and he 
supposed that the whites had all been killed. 

On Friday, the twenty-sixth of September, he had 
transported all of his goods to a post above the Falls of 
St. Anthony, and then occupied a few leisure hours in 
writing to his general, and to his wife, whom he thought 
might not see him return from the land of savages. 

All the next day and Sunday the soldiers were hard 
at work dragging the barge over the portage, and when 
night came they were so fatigued that they could not 
cook their suppers, and went to sleep. On Monday he 
encamped on what is now known as Hennepin Island. 

Opposite the mouth of Crow river, on the fourth of 
October, a bark canoe, cut to pieces with tomahawks, 
and paddles broken, was seen, which appeared as if 
there had been a fight between Ojibways and Dahko- 
tahs. The next day he passed fortifications, and found 



BLOCK-HOUSE NEAR SWAN RIVER. 249 

live litters in which wounded had been carried, at a 
place, where five years before there had been fought a 
severe battle- 
On the sixteenth of October, when they awoke in the 
morning, they were astonished to find that snow had 
fallen during the night. Pike desired, if possible, to 
reach Crow Wing, the highest point ever made by 
traders in their bark canoes, that day, but after the 
soldiers had worked four hours their linibs were be- 
numbed by the cold. 

Going ashore they built a fire, and found the boats 
were leaking. The sergeant, remarkable for strength, 
by over exertion burst a blood-vessel, and a corporal 
also gave evidence of internal injuries. 

In view of the unforeseen difficulties, he determined 
to leave the large boats, and a portion of the men. By 
the last day of the month a block-house was erected 
near Swan river, and in his journal 1 he writes :■ — 

" October thirty-first, Thursday. — Enclosed my little 
work completely with pickets. Hauled up my two 
boats and turned them over on each side of the gate- 
ways; by which means a defence was made to the 
river, and had it not been for various political reasons, 
I would have laughed at the attack of eight hundred or 
a thousand savages, if all my party were within. For, 
except accidents, it would only have afforded amuse- 
ment, the Indians having no idea of taking a place by 
storm. Found myself powerfully attacked with the 

1 The journal and letters of Pike Since his day Major Long, Fre- 
convey so correct an idea of the con- mont, Allen, Pope, Marcy, Stans- 
dition of Minnesota, at the com- bury, and other military officers, by 
mencement of this century, that we their published journals have made 
have thought it advisable to give known the region west of the Missis- 
many extracts. sippi. 



250 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

fantastics of the brain, called ennui, at the mention of 
which I had hitherto scoffed; but my books being 
packed up, I was like a person entranced, and could 
easily conceive why so many persons who have been 
confined to remote places, acquired the habit of drink- 
ing to excess, and many other vicious practices, which 
have been adopted merely to pass time. 

" November twenty-ninth, Friday. — A Sioux (the 
son of a warrior called the Killeur Kouge, of the Gens 
des Feuilles) and a Fols Avoin came to the post. He 
said that having struck our trail below, and finding 
some to be shoe tracks, he conceived it to be the esta- 
blishment of some traders, took it, and came to the post. 
He informed me that Mr. Dickson had told the Sioux 
'that they might now hunt where they pleased, as I 
had gone ahead and would cause the Chippeways, wher- 
ever I met them, to treat them with friendship ; that I 
had barred up the mouth of the St. Peter's, so that no 
liquor could ascend that river ; but that, if they came 
on the Mississippi, they should have what liquor they 
wanted ; also, that I was on the river and had a great 
deal of merchandise to give them in presents.' This 
information of Mr. Dickson to the Indians, seemed to 
have self-interest and envy for its motives ; for, by the 
idea of having prevented liquor from going up to St. 
Peter's, he gave the Indians to understand that it was 
a regulation of my own, and not a law of the United 
States ; and by assuring them he would sell to them on 
the Mississippi, he drew all the Indians from the traders 
on the St. Peter's, who had adhered to the restriction of 
not selling liquor, and should any of them be killed, the 
blame would all lie on me, as he had (without autho- 
rity) assured them they might hunt in security. I took 



DICKSON VISITS PIKE. 251 

care to give the young chief a full explanation of my 
ideas on the above. He remained all night. Killed 
two deer. 

■• December third, Tuesday. — Mr. Dickson, with one 
engagee and a young Indian, arrived at the fort. I re- 
ceived him with every politeness in my power, and after 
a serious conversation with him on the subject of the 
information given me on the twenty-ninth ultimo, was 
induced to believe it, in part, incorrect. He assured me 
that no liquor was sold by him, nor by any houses under 
his direction. He gave me much useful information 
relative to my future route, which gave me great encour- 
agement as to the certainty of my accomplishing the 
object of my voyage, to the fullest extent. He seemed 
to be a gentleman of general commercial knowledge, and 
possessing much geographical information of the Western 
country, of open, frank, manners. He gave me many 
assurances of his good wishes for the prosperity of my 
undertaking. 

" December sixth, Friday. — I despatched my men 
down to bring up the other peroque with a strong sled, 
on which it was intended to put the canoe about one- 
third, and to let the end drag on the ice. Three families 
of the Fols Avoins arrived and encamped near the fort : 
also, one Sioux, who pretended to have been sent to 
me, from the Gens des Feuilles, to inform me that the 
Yanctongs and Sussitongs (two bands of Sioux from the 
head of the St. Peter's and the Missouri, and the most 
savage of them) had commenced the war dance, and 
would depart in a few days, in which case he conceived 
it would be advisable for the Fols Avoins to keep close 
under my protection ; that making a stroke on the 
Chippewa vs would tend to injure the grand object of 



252 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

my voyage, &c, &c. Some reasons induced me to be- 
lieve he was a self-created envoy; however, I offered to 
pay him, or any other young Sioux, who would go to 
those bands and carry my word. He promised to make 
known my wishes upon his return. My men returned 
in the evening without my canoe, having been so unfor- 
tunate as to split her in carrying her over the rough 
hilly ice in the ripples below. So many disappoint 
ments almost wearied out my patience ; but, notwith- 
standing, I intend to embark by land and water in a 
few days. 

"December ninth, Monday. — Prepared to embark. 
Expecting the Sioux, I had two large kettles of soup made 
for them. Had a shooting-match with four prizes. The 
Sioux did not arrive, and we eat the soup ourselves. 
Crossed the river and encamped above the rapids. Wind 
changed, and it grew cold. 

" December tenth, Tuesday. — After arranging our 
sleds * and peroque commenced our march. The sleds on 
the prairie, and the peroque towed by three men. Found 
it extremely difficult to get along, the snow being melted 
off the prairie in spots. The men who had the canoe 
were obliged to wade and drag her over the rocks in 
many places. Shot the only deer I saw. It fell three 
times, and after made its escape. This was a great 
disappointment, for upon the game we took now we 
depended for our subsistence. This evening disclosed 
to my men the real danger they had to encounter. Dis- 
tance five miles. 

" December fourteenth, Saturday. — "We departed from 

1 Sleds were such as are frequently weight, in which two men were 
seen about farmers' yards, calculated geared abreast, 
to hold twc barrels, or four hundred 



SLED FALLS INTO THE RIVER.— BAGGAGE WET. 253 

our encampment at the usual hour, but had not ad- 
vanced one mile when the foremost sled, which hap- 
pened unfortunately to carry my baggage and ammuni- 
tion, fell into the river. We were all in the river up 
to our middles in recovering the things. Halted and 
made a fire. Came on to where the river was frozen 
over. Stopped and encamped on the west shore in a 
pine wood. Upon examining my things, found all my 
baggage wet, and some of my books materially injured; 
but a still greater injury was that all of my cartridges, 
and four pounds of double battle Sussex powder for my 
own use, was destroyed. Fortunately my kegs of pow- 
der were preserved dry, and some bottles of common 
glazed powder, which were so tightly corked as not to 
admit water. Had this not been the case, my voyage 
must necessarily have been terminated, for we could not 
have subsisted without ammunition. During the time 
of our misfortune, two Fols Avoin Indians came to us, 
one of whom was at my stockade, on the twenty-ninth 
ultimo, in company with the Sioux. I signified to them 
by signs the place of our intended encampment, and 
invited them to come and encamp with us. They left 
me, and both arrived at my camp in the evening, hav- 
ing each a deer which they presented me. I gave them 
my canoe to keep until spring ; and, in the morning, at 
parting, made them a small present. Sat up until three 
o'clock, A. M., drying and assorting my ammunition and 
baggage. Killed two deer. Distance four miles. 

" December twenty-first, Saturday. — Bradley and my- 
self went on ahead and overtook my interpreter, who 
had left camp very early in hopes that he would be 
able to see the river De Corbeau, where he had twice 
wintered. He was immediately opposite to a large 



254 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

island, which he supposed to have great resemblance to 
an island opposite the mouth of the above river; but 
finally he concluded it was not the island, and returned 
to camp. But this was actually the river, as we disco- 
vered when we got to the head of the island from which 
we could see the river's entrance. This fact exposes the 
ignorance and inattention of the French and traders; 
and, with the exception of a few intelligent men, what 
little confidence is to be placed on their information. 
We ascended the Mississippi about five miles above the 
confluence; found it frozen; but in many places, not 
more than one hundred yards over; mild and still. 
Indeed all the appearance of a small river of a, low 
country. Returned and found my party, having broke 
sleds, had only made good three miles, while I had 
marched thirty-five. 

" December thirty-first, Tuesday. — Passed Pine river 
about eleven o'clock. At its mouth there was a Chip- 
peway's encampment of fifteen lodges ; this had been 
occupied in the summer, but is now vacant. By the 
significations of their marks we understood that they 
had marched a party of fifty warriors against the Sioux ; 
and had killed four men and four women, which were 
represented by images carved out of pine or cedar. The 
four men painted and put in the ground to the middle, 
leaving above ground those parts which are generally 
concealed; by their sides were four painted poles, 
sharpened at the end to represent the women. Near 
this were poles with deer skins, plumes, and silk hand- 
kerchiefs. Also a circular hoop of cedar with something 
attached representing a scalp. Near each lodge they 
had holes dug in the ground, and boughs ready to cover 



INDIGNATION AT SIGHT OF BRITISH FLAG. 255 

them, as a retreat for their women and children if 
attacked by the Sioux. 

" January second, 1806, Thursday. — Fine warm day. 
Discovered fresh sign of Indians. Just as we were en- 
camping at night, my sentinel informed us that some 
Indians were coming full speed upon our trail or track. I 
ordered my men to stand by their guns carefully. They 
were immediately at my camp, and saluted the flag by a 
discharge of three pieces ; when four Chippeways, one 
Englishman and a Frenchman of the North-west Com- 
pany presented themselves. They informed us that 
some women having discovered our trail gave the alarm, 
and not knowing but it was their enemies, they had 
departed to make a discovery. They had heard of us 
and revered our flag. Mr. Grant, the Englishman, had 
only arrived the day before from Lake De Sable ; from 
which he marched in one day and a half. I presented 
the Indians with half a deer, which they received thank- 
fully, for they had discovered our fires some days ago, 
and, believing it to be the Sioux, they dared not leave 
their camp. They returned, but Mr. Grant remained 
all night. 

"January third, Friday. — My party marched early,, 
but I returned with Mr. Grant to his establishment on 
the Ked Cedar Lake, having one corporal with me. When 
we came in sight of his house, I observed the flag of 
Great Britain flying. I felt indignant, and cannot say 
what my feelings would have excited me to, had he not 
informed me that it belonged to the Indians. This was 
not much more agreeable to me. 

" January fourth, Saturday. — We made twenty-eight 
points in the river; broad, good bottom, and of the 
usual timber. In the night I was awakened by the cry 



256 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

of the sentinel, calling repeatedly to the men ; at length 
he vociferated, " will you let the lieutenant be burnt to 
death ?" This immediately aroused me ; at first I seized 
my arms, but, looking round, I saw my tents in flames. 
The men flew to my assistance and we tore them down, 
but not until they were entirely ruined. This, with 
the loss of my leggins, moccasins, and socks, which I 
had hung up to dry, was no trivial misfortune, in such 
a country, and on such a voyage. But I had reason to 
thank God that the powder, three small casks of which 
I had in my tent, did not take fire ; if it had, I must 
certainly have lost all my baggage, if not my life. 

January eighth, Wednesday. — Conceiving I was at 
no great distance from Sandy Lake, I left my sleds, and 
with Corporal Bradley, took my departure for that 
place, intending to send him back the same evening. 
We walked on very briskly until near night, when we 
met a young Indian, one of those who had visited my 
camp near Red Cedar Lake. I endeavoured to explain 
to him, that it was my wish to go to Lake De Sable 
that evening. He returned with me until we came to 
a trail that led across the woods ; this he signified was a 
near course. I went this course with him, and shortly 
after found myself at a Chippeway encampment, to 
which I believe the friendly savage had enticed me with 
an expectation that I would tarry all night, knowing 
that it was too late for us to make the lake in good 
season. But, upon our refusing to stay, he put us in 
the right road. We arrived at the place where the 
track left the Mississippi at dusk, when we traversed 
about two leagues of a wilderness, without any very 
great difficulty, and at length struck the shore of Lake 
De Sable, over a branch of which our course lay. The 



SANDY LAKE POST.— HORSES FROM RED RIVER. Zbl 

snow having covered the trail made by the Frenchmen, 
who had passed before with the rackets, I was fearful 
of losing ourselves on the lake; the consequence of 
which can only be conceived by those who have been 
exposed on a lake or naked plain, a dreary night of 
January, in latitude 47° and the thermometer below 0. 
Thinking that we could observe the bank of the other 
shore, we kept a straight course, and some time after 
discovered lights, and on our arrival were not a little 
surprised to find a large stockade. The gate being 
opened, we entered and proceeded to the quarters of 
Mr. Grant, where Ave were treated with the utmost 
hospitality. 

"January ninth, Thursday. — Marched the corporal 
early, in order that our men should receive assurance 
of our safety and success. He carried with him a small 
keg of spirits, a present from Mr. Grant. The estab- 
lishment of this place was formed twelve years since, 
by the North-west Company, and was formerly under 
the charge of a Mr. Charles Brusky. It has attained 
at present such regularity, as to permit the superintend- 
ent to live tolerably comfortable. They have horses 
they procured from Red River, of the Indians; raise 
plenty of Irish potatoes, catch pike, suckers, pickerel, 
and white fish in abundance. They have also beaver, 
deer, and moose ; but the provision they chiefly depend 
upon is wild oats, of which they purchase great quanti- 
ties from the savages, giving at the rate of about one 
dollar and a half per bushel. But flour, pork, and salt, 
are almost interdicted to persons not principals in the 
trade. Flour sells at half a dollar ; salt a dollar ; pork 
eighty cents ; sugar half a dollar ; and tea four dollars 



258 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

fifty cents per pound. The sugar is obtained from the 
Indians, and is made from the maple tree. 

"January nineteenth, Sunday. — Two men of the 
North-west Company arrived from the Fond du Lac 
Superior with letters; one of which was from their 
establishment, in Athapuscow, and had been since last 
May on the route. While at this post I eat roasted 
beavers, dressed in every respect as a pig is usually 
dressed with us ; it was excellent. I could not discern 
the least taste of Des Bois. I also eat boiled moose's 
head, which when well boiled, I consider equal to the 
tail of the beaver; in taste and substance they are 
much alike. 

" January twentieth, Monday. — The men with the 
sleds took their departure about two o'clock. Shortly 
after I followed them. We encamped at the portage 
between the Mississippi and Leech Lake river. Snow 
fell in the night. 

"January twenty-fifth, Saturday. — Travelled almost 
all day through the lands, and found them much better 
than usual. Boley lost the Sioux pipe stem, which I 
carried along for the purpose of making peace with the 
Chippeways ; I sent him back for it ; he did not return 
until eleven o'clock at night. It was very warm, thaw- 
ing all day. Distance forty-four points. 

"January twenty-sixth, Sunday. — I left my party in 
order to proceed to a house (or lodge) of Mr. Grant's, on 
the Mississippi, where he was to tarry until I overtook 
him. Took with me my Indian, Boley, and some trilling 
provisions; the Indian and myself marched so fast, that 
We left Boley on the route, about eight miles from the 
lodge. Met Mr. Grant's men on their return to Lake 
De Sable, having evacuated the house this morning, and 



BRITISH FLAG SHOT AT, AND BROUGHT DOWN. 259 

Mr. Grant having marched for Leech Lake. The Indian 
and I arrived before sundown. Passed the night very 
uncomfortably, having nothing to eat, not much wood, 
nor any blankets. The Indian slept sound. I cursed 
his insensibility, being obliged to content myself over a 
few coals all night. Boley did not arrive. In the night 
the Indian mentioned something about his son. 

"February first, Saturday. — Left our camp pretty 
early. Passed a continued train of prairie, and arrived 
at Lake La Sang Sue, 1 at half-past two o'clock. I will 
not attempt to describe my feelings, on the accomplish- 
ment of mv vovage, for this is the main source of the 
Mississippi. The Lake Winipie branch is navigable 
from thence to Eed Cedar Lake, for the distance of five 
leagues, which is the extremity of the navigation. 
Crossed the lake twelve miles to the establishment of 
the North-west Company, where we arrived about three 
o'clock ; found all the gates locked, but upon knocking 
were admitted, and received with marked attention and 
hospitality by Mr. Hugh McGillis. Had a good dish of 
coffee, biscuit, butter, and cheese for supper. 

" February second, Sunday. — Remained all day within 
doors. In the evening sent an invitation to Mr. Ander- 
son, who was an agent of Dickson, and also for some 
young Indians at his house, to come over and breakfast 
in the morning. 

" February seventh, Friday. — Remained within doors, 
my limbs being still very much swelled. Addressed a 
letter to Mr. McGillis on the subject of the North-west 
Company trade in this quarter. 

"February tenth, Monday. — Hoisted the American 
flag in the fort. The English yacht still flying at the 

1 Leech Lake. 



260 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

top of the flagstaff I directed the Indians and my rifle- 
men to shoot at it, who soon broke the iron pin to which 
it was fastened, and brought it to the ground. Reading 
Shenstone. 

" February sixteenth, Sunday. — Held a council with 
the chiefs and warriors at this place 1 and of Red Lake ; 
but it required much patience, coolness, and manage- 
ment, to obtain the objects I desired, viz. That they 
should make peace with the Sioux; deliver up their 
medals and flags ; and that some of their chiefs should 
follow me to St. Louis. As a proof of their agreeing 
to the peace, I directed that they should smoke out of 
the Wabasha's pipe which lay on the table ; they all 
smoked, from the head chief to the youngest soldier ; 
they generally delivered up their flags with a good 
grace ; except the Flat Mouth, who said he had left both 
at his camp, three days' march, and promised to deliver 
them up to Mr. McGillis, to be forwarded. With respect 
to their returning with me, the old Sweet thought it 
most proper to return to the Indians of the Red Lake, 
Red River, and Rainy Lake River. The Flat Mouth 
:said it was necessary for him to restrain his young war- 
riors. The other chiefs did not think themselves of 
consequence sufficient to offer any reason for not fol- 
lowing me to St. Louis, a journey of between two and 
three thousand miles through hostile tribes of Indians. 
I then told them, 'that I was sorry to find that the 
hearts of the Sauteurs of this quarter were so weak, 
that the other nations would say : what, are there no 
soldiers at Leech, Red, and Rainy Lakes, who had the 
hearts to carry the calumet of their chief to their 
father?' This had the desired effect. The Bucks and 

1 Leech Lake. 



RED LAKE.— McGILLIS, TRADER. 261 

Beaux, two of the most celebrated young warriors, rose 
and offered themselves to me for the embassy ; they 
were accepted, adopted as my children, and I installed 
their father. Their example animated the others, and 
it would have been no difficult matter to have taken a 
company ; two, however, were sufficient. I determined 
that it should be my care, never to make them regret 
the noble confidence placed in me ; for I would have 
protected their lives with my own. The Beaux is 
brother to the Flat Mouth. Gave my new soldiers a 
dance, and a small dram. They attempted to get more 
liquor, but a firm and peremptory denial convinced them 
I was not to be trifled with. 

"February eighteenth, Tuesday. — We marched for 
Red Cedar Lake about 11 o'clock, with a guide provided 
for me by Mr. McGillis; were all provided with snow 
shoes ; marched off amidst the acclamations and shouts 
of the Indians, who generally had remained to see us 
take our departure. Mr. Anderson promised to come 
on with letters; he arrived about twelve o'clock, and 
remained all night. He concluded to go down with me 
to see Mr. Dickson. 

" February twenty-fifth, Tuesday. — We marched, and 
arrived at Cedar Lake before noon; found Mr. Grant 
and De Breche (chief of Sandy Lake) at the house. 
This gave me much pleasure, for I conceive Mr. Grant 
to be a gentleman of as much candour as any with 
whom I had made an acquaintance in this quarter ; and 
the chief (De Breche) is reputed to be a man of better 
information than any of the Sauteurs. 

"March third. Monday. — Marched early; passed our 
Christmas encampment at sunrise. I was ahead of my 
party in my cariole. Soon afterwards, I observed smoke 



262 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

on the west shore. I hallooed, and some Indians ap- 
peared upon the bank. I waited until my interpreter 
came up ; we then went to the camp. They proved to 
be a party of Chippeways, who had left the encamp- 
ment the same day we left it. They presented me with 
some roast meat, which I gave my sleigh dogs. They 
then left their camp and accompanied us down the 
river. We passed our encampment of the twenty- 
fourth December, at nine o'clook; of the twenty-third, 
at ten o'clock, and of the twenty-second, at eleven 
o'clock ; here the Indians crossed on to the west shore ; 
arrived at the encampment of the twenty-first Decem- 
ber, at twelve o'clock, where we had a barrel of flour. 
I here found Corporal Meek, and another man from the 
post, from whom I heard that the men were all well. 
They confirmed the account of a Sioux having fired on 
a sentinel, and added, that the sentinel had first made 
him drunk, and then turned him out of the tent, upon 
which he fired on the sentinel and ran off, but promised 
to deliver himself up in the spring. The corporal in- 
formed me that the sergeant had used all the elegant 
hams and saddles of venison which I had preserved to 
present to the commander-in-chief, and other friends; 
that he had made away with all the whiskey, includ- 
ing a keg I had for my own use, having publicly sold it 
to the men, and a barrel of pork; that he had broken 
open my trunk and sold some things out of it, traded 
with the Indians, gave them liquor, and this, too, con- 
trary to my most pointed and particular directions. 
Thus, after I had used, in going up the river with my 
party, the strictest economy, living upon two pounds of 
frozen venison a day, in order that we might have pro- 
vision to carry us down in the spring, this fellow was 



MEAN CONDUCT OF PIKE'S SERGEANT. -63 

squandering away the flour, pork, and liquor during the 
winter, and while we were starving with hunger and 
cold. I had saved all our corn, bacon, and the meat of 
six deer, and left it at Sandy Lake with some tents, my 
mess boxes, salt, and tobacco, all of which we were 
obliged to sacrifice by not returning the same route we 
went, and we consoled ourselves at this loss by the flat- 
tering idea that we should find at our little post a hand- 
some stock preserved; how mortifying the disappoint- 
ment ! TTe raised our barrel of flour and came down to 
the mouth of a little river on the east which we had 
passed on the twenty-first December. The ice covered 
with water. 

" March fifth, Wednesday. — Passed all the encamp- 
ments between Pine Creek and the post, at which we 
arrived about ten o'clock. I sent a man on ahead to 
prevent the salute I had before ordered by letter ; this 
I did from the idea that the Sioux chiefs would accom- 
pany me. Found all well. Confined my sergeant. 
About one o'clock, Mr. Dickson arrived with the Kil- 
leur Rouge, his son, and two other Sioux men, with 
two women, who had come up to be introduced to the 
Sauteurs they expected to find with me. Received a 
letter from Reinville. 

" March fifteenth, Saturday. — This was the day fixed 
upon by Mr. Grant and the Chippeway warriors for their 
arrival at my fort ; and I was all day anxiously expect- 
ing them, for I knew that should they not accompany 
me down, the peace partially effected between them and 
the Sioux would not be on a permanent footing ; and 
upon this I take them to be neither so brave nor gener- 
ous as the Sioux, who, in all their transactions, appear 
to be candid and brave, whereas, the Chippeways are 



264 v HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

suspicious, consequently treacherous, and, of course, 
cowards. 

a March seventeenth, Monday. — Left the fort with 
my interpreter and Roy, in order to visit Thomas, the 
Fols Avoin chief, who was encamped, with six lodges 
of his nation, about twenty miles below us, on a little 
river which empties into the Mississippi, on the west 
side, a little above Clear river. On our way down,, 
killed one goose, wounded another, and a deer that the 
dogs had driven into an air hole ; hung our game on 
the trees. Arrived at the creek, took out on it ; as- 
cended three or four miles on one bank, and descended 
on the other. Killed another goose. Struck the Mis- 
sissippi below . Encamped at our encampment 

of the of October, when we ascended the river. 

Ate our goose for supper. It snowed all day, and at 
night a very severe storm arose. It may be imagined 
that we spent a very disagreeable night, without shelter, 
and but one blanket each. 

" March eighteenth, Tuesday. — : We marched, deter- 
mined to find the lodges. Met an Indian, whose track 
we pursued, through almost impenetrable woods, for 
about two and a half miles, to the camps. Here there 
was one of the finest sugar camps I almost ever saw, 
the whole of the timber being sugar tree. We were 
conducted to the chief's lodge, who received us in the 
patriarchal style. He pulled off my leggins and mocca- 
sins, put me in the best place in his lodge, and offered 
me dry clothes. He then presented us with syrup of 
the maple to drink, then asked whether I preferred 
eating beaver, swan, elk, or deer ; upon my giving the 
preference to the first, a large kettle was filled by his 
wife, of which soup was made ; this being thickened with 



SO CHASTITY AMONG SAVAGES. 265 

flour, we had what I then thought a delicious repast. 
After we had refreshed ourselves, he asked whether we 
would visit his people at the other lodges, which we did ; 
and in each were presented with something to eat ; by 
some with a bowl of sugar, by others, with a beaver's 
tail. After making this tour, we returned to the chief's 
lodge, and found a berth provided for each of us. of 
good soft bear skins, nicely spread, and on mine there 
was a large feather pillow. I must not here omit to 
mention an anecdote which serves to characterize more 
particularly their manners. This, in the eyes of the 
contracted moralist, would deform my hospitable host 
into a monster of libertinism ; but, by a liberal mind, 
would be considered as arising from the hearty genero- 
sity of the wild savage. In the course of the day, ob- 
serving a ring on one of my fingers, he inquired if it 
was gold ; he was told it was the gift of one with whom 
I should be happy to be at that time. He seemed to 
think seriously, and at night told my interpreter, 'that 
perhaps his father (as they all called me) felt much 
grieved for the want of a woman ; if so, he could furnish 
him with one.' He was answered, that with us, each 
man had but one wife, and that I considered it strictly 
my duty to remain faithful to her. This he thought 
strange (he himself having three) , and replied that ' he 
knew some Americans at his nation who had half a 
dozen wives during the winter.' The interpreter ob- 
served that thev were men without character, but that 
all our great men had each but one wife. The chief 
acquiesced, but said he liked better to have as many as 
he pleased. This conversation passing without any 
appeal to me, as the interpreter knew my mind on 
those occasions, and answered immediately, it did not 



266 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

appear as an immediate refusal of the woman. Con- 
tinued snowing very hard all day. Slept very warm. 

u April eleventh, Friday. — Although it snowed very 
hard, we brought over both boats, and descended the 
river to the island at the entrance of the St. Peter's. I 
sent to the chiefs and informed them I had something to 
communicate to them. The Fils de Pinchow immediately 
waited on me, and informed me that he would provide 
a place for the purpose. About sundown I was sent for 
and introduced into the council-house, where I found a 
great many chiefs of the Sussitongs, Gens des Feuilles, 
and the Gens du Lac. The Yanctongs had not yet come 
down. They were all waiting for my arrival. There 
were about one hundred lodges, or six hundred people; we 
were saluted on our crossing the river with ball as usual. 
The council-house was two large lodges, capable of con- 
taining three hundred men. In the upper were forty 
chiefs, and as many pipes set against the poles, along side 
of which I had the Sauteurs' pipes arranged. I then 
informed them in short detail, of my transactions with 
the Sauteurs ; but my interpreters were not capable of 
making themselves understood. I was therefore obliged 
to omit mentioning every particular relative to the rascal 
who fired on my sentinel, and of the scoundrel who broke 
the Fols Avoins' canoes, and threatened my life; the 
interpreters however informed them that I wanted some 
of their principal chiefs to go to St. Louis; and that 
those who thought proper might descend to the prairie, 
where we would give them more explicit information. 
They all smoked out of the Sauteurs' pipes, excepting 
three, who were painted black, and were some of those 
who lost their relations last winter. I invited the Fils 



FRUITLESS SEARCH FOR CARVER'S CAVE. 267 

de Pinchow, 1 and the son of the Killeur Rouge, to come 
over and sup with me ; when Mr. Dickson and myself 
endeavoured to explain what I intended to have said to 
them, could I have made myself understood; that at 
the prairie we would have all things explained ; that I 
was desirous of making a better report of them than 
Captain Lewis could do from their treatment of him. 
The former of those savages was the person who remained 
around my post all last winter, and treated my men so 
well ; they endeavoured to excuse their people. 

"April twelfth, Saturday. — Embarked early. Al- 
though my interpreter had been frequently up the 
river, he could not tell me where the cave (spoken of 
by Carver) could be found ; we carefully sought for it, 
but in vain. At the Indian village, a few miles below 
St. Peter's, we were about to pass a few lodges, but on 
receiving a very particular invitation to come on shore, 
we landed, and were received in a lodge kindly; they 
presented us sugar. I gave the proprietor a dram, 
and was about to depart when he demanded a kettle of 
liquor ; on being refused, and after I had left the shore, 
he told me, that he did not like the arrangements, and 
that he would go to war this summer. I directed the 
interpreter to tell him, that if I returned to the St. 
Peter's with the troops, I would settle that affair with 
him. On our arrival at the St. Croix, I found the Petit 
Corbeau with his people, and Messrs. Frazer and Wood. 
\Ve had a conference, when the Petit Corbeau made 
many apologies for the misconduct of his people; he 
represented to us the different manners in which the 
young warriors had been inducing him to go to war ; 

1 Probably the son of the French trader Penneshaw. 



268 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

that he had been much blamed for dismissing his party 
last fall ; but that he was determined to adhere as far 
as lay in his power to our instructions ; that he thought 
it most prudent to remain here and restrain the warriors. 
He then presented me with a beaver robe and pipe, and 
his message to the general. That he was determined to 
preserve peace, and make the road clear ; also a remem- 
brance of his promised medal. I made a reply, calculated 
to confirm him in his good intentions, and assured him 
that he should not be the less remembered by his father, 
although not present. I was informed that, notwith- 
standing the instruction of his license, and my particular 
request, Murdoch Cameron had taken liquor and sold 
it to the Indians on the river St. Peter's, and that his 
partner below had been equally imprudent. I pledged 
myself to prosecute them according to law ; for they 
have been the occasion of great confusion, and of much 
injury to the other traders. This day met a canoe of 
Mr. Dickson's loaded with provisions, under the charge 
of Mr. Anderson, brother of the Mr. Anderson at Leech 
Lake. He politely offered me any provision he had on 
board (for which Mr. Dickson had given me an order), 
but not now being in want, I did not accept of any. This 
day, for the first time, I observed the trees beginning to 
bud, and indeed the climate seemed to have changed very 
materially since we passed the Falls of St. Anthony. 

"April thirteenth, Sunday.- — We embarked after 
breakfast. Messrs. Frazer and Wood accompanied me. 
Wind strong ahead. They out-rowed us ; the first boat 
or canoe we met with on the voyage able to do it, but 
then they were double manned and light. Arrived at 
the band of the Aile Rouge at two o'clock, where we 
were saluted as usual. We had a council, when he 



PIKE SPENDS A DAY AT RED WING. 269 

spoke with more detestation of the rascals at the mouth 
of the St. Peter's, than any man I had yet heard. He 
assured me, speaking of the fellow who had fired on my 
sentinel and threatened to kill me, that if I thought it re- 
quisite, he should be killed ; but that, as there were many 
chiefs above with whom he wished to speak, he hoped 
I would remain one day, when all the Sioux would be 
down, and I might have the command of a thousand 
men of them, that I would probably think it no honour; 
but that the British used to flatter them they were 
proud of having them for soldiers. I replied in general 
terms, and assured him it was not for the conduct of 
two or three rascals that I meant to pass over all the 
good treatment I had received from the Sioux nation ; 
but that in general council I would explain myself. 
That as to the scoundrel who fired at my sentinel, had 
I been at home the Sioux nation would never have been 
troubled with him, for I would have killed him on the 
spot. But that my young men did not do it, appre- 
hensive that I would be displeased. I then gave him 
the news of the Sauteurs, that as to remaining one 
day, it would be of no service ; that I was much pressed 
to arrive below; as my general expected me, my duty 
called me, and that the state of my provision demanded 
the utmost expedition; that I would be happy to oblige 
him, but that my men must eat. He replied that Lake 
Pepin being yet shut with ice, if I went on and en- 
camped on the ice, it would not get me provision. That 
he would send out all his young men the next day ; and 
that if the other bands did not arrive, he would depart 
the day after with me. In short, after much talk, I 
agreed to remain one day, knowing that the lake was 



2/0 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

closed, and that we could proceed only nine miles if we 
went; this appeared to give general satisfaction. 

"I was invited to different feasts, and entertained at 
one by a person whose father was enacted a chief by the 
Spaniards. At this feast I saw a man (called by the 
French the Roman Nose, and by the Indians the Wind 
that Walks) who was formerly the second chief of the 
Sioux, but being the cause of the death of one of the 
traders, seven years since, he voluntarily relinquished 
the dignity, and has frequently requested to be given 
up to the whites. But he was now determined to go to 
St. Louis and deliver himself up where he said they 
might put him to death. His long repentance, the 
great confidence of the nation in him, would perhaps 
protect him from a punishment which the crime merited. 
But as the crime was committed long before the United 
States assumed its authority, and as no law of theirs 
could affect it, unless it was ex post facto, and had a 
retrospective effect, I conceived it would certainly be 
dispunishable now. I did not think proper, however, 
to inform him so. I here received a letter from Mr. 
Rollet, partner of Mr. Cameron, with a present of some 
brandy, coffee, and sugar. I hesitated about receiving 
those articles from the partner of the man I intended 
to prosecute; their amount being trifling, however, I 
accepted of them, offering him pay. I assured him that 
the prosecution arose from a sense of duty, and not 
from any personal prejudice. My canoe did not come 
up in consequence of the head wind. Sent out two 
men in a canoe to set fishing lines ; the canoe overset, 
and had it not been for the timely assistance of the 
savages, who carried them into their lodges, undressed 
them, and treated them with the greatest humanity and 



ATTEMPT TO TAKE PIKE'S LIFE. 271 

kindness, they must inevitably have perished. At this 
place I was informed, that the rascal spoken of as hav- 
ing threatened my life, had actually cocked his gun to 
shoot me from behind the hills, but was prevented by 
the others. 

"April fourteenth, Monday. — Was invited to a feast 
by the Roman Xose. His conversation was interesting, 
and shall be detailed hereafter. The other Indians not 
vet arrived. Messrs. Wood, Frazer, and mvself. ascended 
a high hill called the Barn, from which we had a view 
of Lake Pepin : the valley through which the Missis- 
sippi by numerous channels wound itself to the St. Croix ; 
the Cannon river, and the lofty hills on each side. 

••April fifteenth. Tuesday. — Arose very early and 
embarked about sunrise, much to the astonishment of 
the Indians, who were entirely prepared for the council 
when they heard I had put off; however, after some 
conversation with Mr. Frazer, they acknowledged that 
it was agreeably to what I had said, that I would sail 
early, and that they could not blame me. I was very 
positive in my word, for I found it by far the best way 
to treat the Indians. The Aile Rouge had a beaver 
robe and pipe prepared to present, but was obliged for 
the present to retain it. Passed through Lake Pepin 
with my barges ; the canoe being obliged to lay by. did 
not come on. Stopped at a prairie on the right bank 
descending, about nine miles below Lake Pepin. \Vent 
out to view some hills which had the appearance of the 
old fortifications spoken of; but I will speak more fully 
of them hereafter. In these hollows I discovered a 
flock of elk. took out fifteen men. but we were not able 
to kill any. Mr. Frazer came up and passed on about 



272 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

two miles. We encamped together. Neither Mr. Wood's 
nor my canoe arrived. Snowed considerably. 

"April sixteenth, Wednesday. — Mr. Frazer's canoes 
and my boats sailed about one hour by sun. We waited 
some time expecting Mr. Wood's barges and my canoe, 
but hearing a gun fired first just above our encamp- 
ment, we were induced to make sail. Passed the Aile 
Prairie, also La Montagne qui Trompe a L'eau, the 
prairie De Cross, and encamped on the west shore, a 
few hundred yards below, where I had encamped on the 

day of September, in ascending. Killed a goose 

flying. Shot at some pigeons at our camp, and was 
answered from behind an island with two guns ; we re- 
turned them, and were replied to by two more. This 
day the trees appeared in bloom. Snow might still be 
seen on the sides of the hills. Distance seventy-five 
miles. 

" April seventeenth, Thursday. — Put off pretty early 
and arrived at Wabasha's band at eleven o'clock, where 
I detained all day for him; but he alone of all the 
hunters remained out all night. Left some powder and 
tobacco for him. The Sioux presented me with a kettle 
of boiled meat and a deer. I here received information 
that the Puants had killed some white men below. Mr. 
Wood's and my canoe arrived. 

" April eighteenth, Friday. — Departed from our en- 
campment very early. Stopped to breakfast at the 
Painted Kock. Arrived at the Prairie Des Chiens at 
two o'clock ; and were received by crowds on the bank. 
Took up my quarters at Mr. Fisher's. My men received 
a present of one barrel of pork from Mr. Campbell, a 
hag of biscuit, twenty loaves of bread, and some meat 



GREAT BALL PLAY AT PRAIRIE DU CHIEN. 273 

from Mr. Fisher. A Mr. Jearreau, 1 from Cahokia, is 
here, who embarks to-morrow for St. Louis. I wrote to 
General Wilkinson by him. I was called on by a num- 
ber of chiefs, Reynards, Sioux of the Des Moyan. The 
Winnebagoes were here intending, as I was informed, 
to deliver some of the murderers to me. Received a 
great deal of "news from the States and Europe, both 
civil and military. 

" April nineteenth, Saturday. — Dined at Mr. Camp- 
bell's in company with Messrs. Wilmot, Blakely, Wood, 
Rollet, Fisher, Frazer, and Jearreau. Six canoes 
arrived from the upper part of the St. Peter's with the 
Yanctong chiefs from the head of that river. Their 
appearance was indeed savage, much more so than any 
nation I have yet seen. Prepared my boat for sail. 
Gave notice to the Puants that I had business to do with 
them the next day. A band of the Gens du Lac 
arrived. Took into my pay as interpreter Mr. Y. Rein- 
ville. 

" April twentieth, Sunday. — Held a council with the 
Puant chiefs, and demanded of them the murderers of 
their nation ; they required till to-morrow to consider 
on it ; this afternoon they had a great game of the cross 
on the prairie, between the Sioux on the one side, and 
the Puants and Reynards on the other. The ball is 
made of some hard substance and covered with leather, 
the cross sticks are round and net-work, with handles 
of three feet long. The parties being ready, and bets 
agreed upon (sometimes to the amount of some thou- 
sand dollars), the goals are set up on the prairie at the 
distance of half a mile. The ball is thrown up in the 
middle, and each party strives to drive it to the opposite 

1 Or Jarrot. 
18 



274 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

goal; and when either party gains the first rubber, 
which is driving it quick round the post, the ball is 
again taken to the centre, the ground changed, and the 
contest renewed ; and this is continued until one side 
gains four times, which decides the bet. It is an inter- 
esting sight to see two or three hundred naked savages 
contending on the plain who shall bear off the palm of 
victory; he who drives the ball round the goal is 
much shouted at by his companions. It sometimes hap- 
pens that one catches the ball in his racket, and depend- 
ing on his speed endeavours to carry it to the goal, and 
when he finds himself too closely pursued, he hurls it 
with great force and dexterity to an amazing distance, 
where there are always flankers of both parties ready 
to receive it ; it seldom touches the ground, but is some- 
times kept in the air for hours before either party can 
gain the victory. In the game I witnessed, the Sioux 
were victorious, more I believe from the superiority of 
their skill in throwing the ball, than by their swiftness, 
for I thought the Puants and Reynards the swiftest 
runners. I made a written demand of the magistrates 
to take deposition concerning the late murders. Had a 
private conversation with Wabasha. 

"April twenty-fifth, Monday. — Was sent for by La 
Feuille, and had a long and interesting conversation 
with him, in which he spoke of the general jealousy of 
his nation towards their chiefs ; and that although he 
knew it might occasion some of the Sioux displeasure, 
he did not hesitate to declare that he looked on the Nez 
Corbeau as the man of most sense in their nation ; and 
that he believed it would be generally acceptable if he 
was reinstated in his rank. Upon my return I was sent 
for by the Red Thunder, chief of the Yanctongs, the 



RED THUNDER'S (YANKTON CHIEF) SPEECH. 275 

most savage band of the Sioux. He was prepared with 
the most elegant pipes and robes I ever saw ; and 
shortly he declared, that i That white blood had never 
been shed in the village of the Yanctongs, even when 
rum was permitted ; that Mr. Murdoch Cameron arrived 
at his village last autumn ; that he invited him to eat, 
gave him corn as a bird ; that he (Cameron) informed 
him of the prohibition of rum, and was the only person 
who afterwards sold it in the village.' After this I had 
a council with the Puants. Spent the evening with 
Mr. Wilmot, one of the best informed and most gentle- 
manly men in the place. 

" April twenty-second, Tuesday. — Held a council with 
the Sioux and Puants, the latter of whom delivered up 
their medals and flags. Prepared to depart to-morrow." 



27tJ HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The traders of the North-west Company, though 
they treated Lieutenant Pike with the respect due his 
commission, and extended to him their hospitality, did 
not approve of the policy that the United States govern- 
ment were intending to inaugurate. 

They were well aware if the system of establishing 
central depots of trade, with goods furnished by the 
government at low rates, was successful, that " their 
occupation was gone." Influence was consequently 
employed to prevent the tribes from patronizing the 
United States factories, and cultivating friendly inter- 
course with the Americans. 

Pike had scarcely disappeared from the waters of the 
Mississippi, before Dickson, Kolette, and Cameron dis- 
regarded the regulations which had been established. 

At the commencement of the century Cameron was 
the principal British trader on the Upper Minnesota, and 
the spot where he was buried in 1811, is known among 
voyageurs as " Cameron's Grave." He was a shrewd and 
daring Scotchman. One of his employees was an old 
Canadian, familiarly called Milor, who has recently 
died at Mendota. 

He related a circumstance which occurred while in 
the service of Cameron, which well exhibits the hard- 



T 



SUFFERINGS OF CAMERON'S VOYAGEURS. 277 

ships to which the engagees of the fur trade are often 
exposed. 

While at one of the outposts of Cameron, on a tribu- 
tary of the Minnesota, the winter suddenly set in, and 
it was impossible to use the canoe. Hoping that there 
would be a thaw, he and his companions waited from 
day to day, until their provisions were exhausted. The 
weather remaining cold, their only alternative was to 
place their packs of furs beneath the upturned canoe, 
and seek the shelter of the woods, in the hope that 
Cameron would send relief. 

With their last meal in their pockets, they com- 
menced their journey through the deep snow. Meeting 
with no game, when they encamped on the evening of 
the second day, they were compelled by hunger to eat 
of the bark of a tree. 

During the third day two of the party began to fail 
in strength, and to beg the others to stop and show that 
they were losing their judgment. Milor gave no heed 
to their entreaties, but pushing ahead came at dusk 
to a place sheltered from the piercing wind, and there 
found an Indian frozen to death beside the remnants of 
a small fire. 

Milor now shouted to his fellow voyageurs, and told 
them that to stop was to secure a similar fate. 
Frightened by the scene, they quickened their pace, until 
late at night. Milor and another succeeded in catching 
two muskrats, and, building up a good fire, they feasted 
on one of the rats, and rested till the break of day. 

Making a breakfast on the remaining rat, the party 
resumed their march, Milor encouraging them by saying 
that they would soon come to a place where there was 
an abundance of muskrats, and that as soon as they had 



278 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

laid in a supply of them, they would strike for Traverse 
des Sioux, when they would be sure to hear of Cameron 
and obtain food. 

For several days they found but one muskrat ; but on 
the morning of the eighth day, after they had been 
marching an hour, Milor, looking attentively in a south- 
east direction, declared that he saw smoke, and that 
there must be a fire. This, for a time, had the exhila- 
rating effect of wine ; but after two or three hours the 
sign disappeared, and they began to despond ; when the 
thought came to Milor that if there was a party coining 
to their relief, they would be on the lookout also. In 
less than half an hour he had ascended a bluff, and 
descried a thick column of smoke, about three miles 
distant. Waving his cap to his companions, and shout- 
ing for joy, he hurried in that direction, and found a 
party who had come to their aid. Two men were there, 
each with a pack of pork and biscuit, which had been 
despatched from Traverse des Sioux, while Cameron 
and three others were expecting to start with an addi- 
tional supply. When the fatigued party came into 
camp, they literally danced for joy. Feathers tonhaugh, 
who relates the story, remarks : " This incident is very 
much to the credit of Cameron, who made so resolute 
an attempt to relieve his poor engagees, when the 
chances of success were so few." 

As early as the year 1807, it was evident that under 
some secret influence the Indian tribes of the North- 
west were combining with hostile intentions towards 
the United States. In the year 1809, a trader by the 
name of Nicholas Jarrot, who frequently visited Prairie 
du Chien, made an affidavit at Saint Louis, that the 
British traders at that place were furnishing the Indians 



DICKSON— HIS CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE. 279 

with guns for hostile purposes. Messengers from the 
Prophet, brother of Tecuinseh, painted black, were sent 
among the Ojibways, and in solemn council they told 
the astonished natives that the Prophet who sent them 
had been told by one of the great spirits that it was 
the will of the gods that Indians should live independent 
of the whites, and return to primitive usages. The 
flint and steel were to be discarded ; and fire obtained 
as of old, by the friction of two sticks. To those who 
believed the message, blessings were promised. They 
also claimed that the Prophet could resuscitate the dead. 
The late William Warren asserts that a dead child was 
taken from Lake Ottawa to Keweena, on Lake Superior, 
for the purpose of having it brought to life by the Pro- 
phet ; but putrefaction having taken place, the project 
was abandoned. 

At this period, a red-haired Scotchman, of strong 
intellect, good family, and ardent attachment to the 
crown of England, was at the head of the Indian trade 
in Minnesota. Pike, who visited him in 1806, at one 
of his trading posts near Sauk Rapids, describes him as 
" a gentleman of general commercial knowledge, and of 
open, frank manners." Governor Edwards of Illinois, 
writing to the secretary of war, says : " The opinion of 
Dickson, the celebrated British trader, is, that, in the 
event of a war with Great Britain, all the Indians will 
be opposed to us, and he hopes to engage them in hos- 
tility by making peace between the Sioux and Chippe- 
ways, and in having them to declare war against us." 
A source of influence among the Dahkotahs of Minne- 
sota was the fact that he had married a sister of Red 
Thunder, one of their bravest chiefs, and that the 



280 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

British government had appointed him agent and super- 
intendent of the western tribes. 

On the first of May, 1812, two Indians were appre- 
hended at Chicago, who were on their way to meet 
Dickson at Green Bay. They had taken the precaution 
to put their letters in their moccasins, and bury them 
in the ground, and were allowed to proceed. 

A Mr. Frazer, of Prairie du Chien, who was present 
at the portage of the Wisconsin, when the Indians deli- 
vered the letters, stated that Dickson was informed that 
the British flag would soon be flying on the American 
garrison at Mackinaw. About this time, Cadotte, Deace, 
and John Askin were at Fond du Lac, Minnesota, 
collecting Ojibway warriors. At Green Bay, Black 
Hawk was formally created commander-in-chief of the 
Indian forces, by Dickson presenting him with a medal 
and certificate, a British flag of silk. 

The garrison at Mackinaw was composed of fifty-seven 
soldiers, with a lieutenant in command. Before Lieu- 
tenant Hanks was aware that war had been proclaimed 
by the United States, he was surprised by a force of 
British soldiers and Indians landing from a ship that 
belonged to the North-west Company, and numerous 
batteaux and birch canoes. With the British army 
were traders who had long been familiar with the tribes 
of Wisconsin and Minnesota, Askin, Langlade, Michael 
Cadotte, and Joseph Kolette. The American officer, 
perceiving the overwhelming force of the enemy, which 
consisted of forty regulars of the royal veteran batta- 
lion, two hundred and sixty Canadians, with their bour- 
geois or employees, and several hundred Dahkotah, Ojib 
way, Winnebago, and Menomonee Indians, capitulated 
withou t firing a single gun on July the seventeenth, 1812. 



INVITATION TO EAT AN AMERICAN. 281 

An American gentleman, who had been made pris- 
oner, writes from Detroit on August sixth, to the Sec- 
retary of War : — 

" The persons who commanded the Indians are Robert 
Dickson, Indian trader, and John Askin, Jr., Indian 
agent, and son. The latter two were painted and dressed 
after the manner of the Indians. Those who com- 
manded the Canadians are John Johnson, Crawford, 
Pothier, Armitinger, La Croix, Rolette, Franks, Living- 
ston and other traders, some of whom were lately con- 
cerned in smuggling British goods into the Indian 
country, and, in conjunction with others, have been 
using their utmost efforts, several months before the 
declaration of war, to excite the Indians to take up 
arms. The least resistance from the fort would have 
been attended with the destruction of all the persons 
who fell into the hands of the British, as I have been 
assured by some of the British traders." 

The next year Dickson, Renville, and other Minne- 
sota traders, are present with the Kaposia, Wapashaw,. 
and other bands of Dahkotahs, at the siege of Fort 
Meigs. 

While Renville was seated one afternoon with Wapa- 
shaw, and the then chief of the Kaposia band, a deputa- 
tion came to invite them to meet the other allied Indians, 
with which the chiefs complied. 

Frazer, an old trader in Minnesota, came and told 
Renville that the Indians were about to eat an Ame- 
rican. On repairmg to the spot, the flesh was found 
carved up, and apportioned in dishes, one for each 
nation present. The bravest man of each tribe was 
urged to step forward and partake of the heart and 



282 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

head, and only one warrior of a tribe was allowed to 
partake of these rarities. 

Among those assembled there was a nephew of the 
Kaposia chief, known among the traders as the Grand 
Chasseur, who was pressed by a Winnebago to partake 
of the human flesh. In a moment his uncle told him 
to leave the feast, and, arising, made a speech creditable 
to his humanity : — 

" My friends," said he, " we came here not to eat 
Americans, but to wage war against them; that will 
suffice for us ; and could we do that if left to our own 
forces ? We are poor and destitute, while they possess 
the means of supplying themselves with all that they 
require ; we ought not therefore to do such things." 

Wapashaw then spoke in these words, " We thought 
that you, who live near to white men, were wiser and 
more refined than we are who live at a distance ; but 
it must indeed be otherwise if you do such deeds." 

Col. Dickson, sending for the Winnebago, who origi- 
nated the disgusting feast, asked what impelled him to 
such a course. To which the savage replied, that it 
was better for him to kill the American and eat him, 
than it was for the Americans to burn his house, ravish 
and murder his wife and daughters. 

The citizens of the United States, in the valley of the 
Mississippi, now began to feel uneasy ; and in the Mis- 
souri Gazette of July thirty-first, 1813, published at 
St. Louis, there is a plea by the editor, for the defence 
of Prairie du Chien : — 

" Last winter," he says, " we endeavoured to turn the 
attention of the government toward Prairie du Chien, 
a position which we ought to occupy by establishing a 
military post at the village, or on the Ouisconsin. For 



FIRST AMERICAN FORT AT PRAIRIE DU CHIEN. 283 

several months we have not been able to procure any 
other than Indian information from the prairie, the 
enemy having cut off all communication ; but we are 
persuaded that permanent subsistence can be obtained 
for one thousand regular troops in the upper lake coun- 
try. At Prairie du Chien there are about fifty families, 
most of whom are engaged in agriculture. Their com- 
mon field is four miles long by half a mile in breadth. 
Besides this field they have three separate farms, and 
twelve horse-mills to manufacture their produce." 

In February, 1814, the Americans captured St. Jo- 
seph's, in Lake Huron, not far from Sault St. Marie, 
and Mr. Bailly and five others connected with the 
Mackinaw Company were taken prisoners. 

On the first of May, 1814, Governor Clark, with two 
hundred men, left St. Louis, to build a fort at the junc- 
tion of the Wisconsin and Mississippi. Twenty days 
before he arrived at Prairie du Chien, Dickson had 
started for Mackinaw with a band of Dahkotahs and 
Winnebagoes. The place was left in command of 
Captain Deace and the Mackinaw Fencibles. The 
Dahkotahs refusing to co-operate, when the Americans 
made their appearance they fled. The Americans took 
possession of the old Mackinaw house, in which they 
found nine or ten trunks of papers belonging to Dick- 
son. From one they took the following extract : — 

" Arrived, from below, a few Winnebagoes with scalps. 
Gave them tobacco, six pounds powder, and six pounds 
ball." 

A fort was immediately commenced on the site of the 
residence of H. L. Dousman, which was composed of two 
block-houses in the angles, and another on the bank of 
the river, with a subterranean communication. In 



284 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

honour of the governor of Kentucky it was named. 
" Shelby." 

The fort was in charge of Lieutenant Perkins, and. 
sixty rank and file, and two gun-boats, each of which 
carried a six-pounder; and several howitzers were com- 
manded by Captains Yeiser, Sullivan, and Aid-de-camp 
Kennerly. 

The traders at Mackinaw, learning that the Ameri- 
cans had built a fort at the Prairie, and knowing that 
as long as they held possession they would be cut off 
from the trade with the Dahkotahs, they immediately 
raised an expedition to capture the garrison. 

The captain was an old trader by the name of McKay, 
and under him was a sergeant of artillery, with a brass 
six-pounder, and three or four volunteer companies of 
Canadian voyageurs, commanded by traders and officered 
by their clerks, all dressed in red coats, with a number 
of Indians. 

The Americans had scarcely completed their rude 
fortification, before the British force, guided by Joseph 
Rolette, Sr., descended in canoes to a point on the Wis- 
consin, several miles from the Prairie, to which they 
marched in battle array. McKay sent a flag demand- 
ing a surrender; Lieutenant Perkins replied that he 
would defend it to the last. 

At three o'clock, on the afternoon of July seventeenth, 
the British and Indians attacked the gun-boat of Captain 
Yeiser ; the Indians firing from behind the houses and 
pickets. The boat moved up toward the head of the 
village, discharging volleys, which were quickly an- 
swered by the British. The enemy now crossed the 
river, and commenced an attack from the opposite side, 



AMERICANS RETREAT FROM PRAIRIE DU CHIEN. 285 

which caused Captain Yeiser to run his boat through 
the enemy's lines to a point a few miles below. 

Lieutenant Perkins, in the meantime, fought bravely 
in the fort for three days and nights. Pi ) visions, am- 
munition, and water, began to fail, and the enemy were 
approaching the pickets by mining. He therefore wisely 
surrendered, capitulating that they were to retain their 
private property, and not to serve until duly exchanged. 
After placing them on parol, the British commander 
escorted them to the gun-boat "Governor Clark," in 
which they had arrived only a month before, and sent 
them down the river. 

In their descent they were followed by a party of the 
blood-thirsty savages in canoes, who did not turn back 
until they reached Rock Island. 

About the time of the capture, a detachment of troops 
were on their way from St. Louis, under the command 
of a Lieut. Campbell, to strengthen the garrison. Ar- 
riving at Rock Island, he held a conference with Black 
Hawk at his village. A few moments after his depar- 
ture, runners, by way of Rock River, brought the news 
to the Sauk village that the Americans had been de- 
feated at Prairie du Chien. 

Immediately they started in pursuit of Campbell's 
party, which they overtook at a small island near the 
Illinois shore, about three miles above their village. 
A fierce encounter took place, in which the Americans 
were worsted. The officer was wounded, several men 
were killed, and one of their boats captured, so that it 
became necessary to retreat to St. Louis. Fort Shel- 
by, after the capture, was called Fort McKay. After 
the attack of Black Hawk on Campbell, the commander 
of Fort McKay erected a battery, with two twelve- 



286 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

pounders and six painted wooden guns, near Kock 
Island, on the east side of the river. 

Late in August, 1814, Major Zachary Taylor, the 
late president of the United States, proceeded in some 
gun-boats to punish the Indians who had attacked 
Campbell ; but on his arrival he was astonished to find 
the British there with a large force of Indians. It was 
a bright, beautiful morning in September when the 
engagement began, and the first cannon ball fired from 
the British battery passed through one of Taylor's gun- 
boats, commanded by Captain Hempstead. 

Taylor, like Campbell, soon had his boats disabled, 
and was obliged to drop down the stream about three 
miles to repair, and attend to the wounded. During 
the conflict it became necessary for some one to carry 
a cable from a disabled boat which was drifting towards 
the Indians to one commanded by Captain Whiteside. 
A youth of twenty-three, named Paul Harpole, per- 
formed the undertaking successfully, but having done 
this, he lingered and fired fourteen guns which were 
handed him at the enemy, when he himself was shot. 
His body, floating down the stream, was seized by yell- 
ing savages and cut into many pieces. In the engage- 
ment eleven Americans were badly wounded. 

Among those who came in Captain Yeiser's gun-boat 
to St. Louis, after the surrender of Prairie du Chien, 
was a friendly " one-eyed Sioux," who had behaved 
gallantly when the boat was attacked by British artil- 
lery. In the fall of the same year, this one-eyed Sioux, 
with another of the same nation, ascended the Missouri 
under the protection of the distinguished trader, Manual 
Lisa, as far as the Au Jacques river, and from thence 
he struck across the country, enlisting the Sioux in 



DICKSON AND THE "ONE-EYED SIOUX." 287 

favour of the United States, and at length arrived at 
Prairie du Chien. On his arrival, Dickson accosted him, 
and inquired from whence he came, and what was his 
business ; at the same time rudely snatching his bundle 
from his shoulders, and searching for letters. The 
" one-eyed warrior" told him that he was from St. Louis, 
and that he had promised the white chiefs there that 
he would go to Prairie du Chien, and that he had kept 
his promise. 

Dickson then placed him in confinement in Fort Mc- 
Kay, as the garrison was called by the British, and 
ordered him to divulge what information he possessed, 
or he would put him to death. But the faithful fellow 
said he would impart nothing, and that he was ready 
for death if he wished to kill him. Finding that con- 
finement had no effect, Dickson at last liberated him. 
He then left, and visited the bands of Sioux on the 
Upper Mississippi, with which he passed the winter. 
When he returned in the spring, Dickson had gone to 
Mackinaw, and Captain Bulger was in command of the 
fort. 

While there, on May twenty-third, 1815, the British 
evacuated the fort, the news of peace having arrived. 
As they retired, they fired the fort with the American 
colours flying ; and the brave Sioux, exposing himself 
to the flames, rushed in and bore off the American flag 
and an American medal. 

This one-eyed Sioux, if Dr. Foster of Hastings is 
correct, is still living. In an article published in the 
Minnesota Democrat, May, 1854, he speaks of the sign- 
ers of the treaty between Pike, on the part of the Uni- 
ted States, and the Dahkohtahs, and says : — 

" I have omitted till the last, mention of Le Orig- 



288 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

nal Leve, who, next to Little Crow, appears to have 
been the most prominent individual present. Pike calls 
him c my friend/ and seems to have made him some 
marked presents — indeed, the Indian relationship and 
tie of comradeship was probably adopted between them. 
Pike says he 'was a war chief, and that he gave him 
my [his] father's tomahawk/ though what he means by 
that, passes my comprehension. In the table of Indian 
chiefs, in the appendix to Pike's Journal, he is set down 
as belonging to the Meday wokant'wans ; his Indian 
name is given as Tahamie, his French as L'Orignal Leve, 
and his English as the ' Rising Moose,' which is stated 
to be literally translated. 

"I believe this war chief to be identical with the 
aged Indian, with whom most of the old settlers are 
familiar by the name of Tah-mah-haw, whose character- 
istics are one eye, and his always wearing a stave-pipe 
hat. He is remarkable among the Sioux — and it is his 
greatest pride and boast, that he is the only American 
in his tribe. This is explained by the fact, that in the 
war with Great Britain in 1812, when the rest of the 
Sioux sided with the British, and when Little Crow, 
with Joseph Renville, led on a war party to join the 
British army against us, he refused to participate on 
that side, and joined the Americans at St. Louis, where 
he was employed by General Clarke, in the American 
service. 

" He has now in his possession, and carefully keeps a 
commission from General Clarke, dated in 1814, as a 
chief of the Sioux; the commission says of the Red 
Wing band of Indians — which was originally part of 
Wabashaw's band. 

"If he is the same person as L'Orignal Leve, then 



FOSTER'S ACCOUNT OF TAMAHAW. 289 

Pike and his Indian comrade fought in the same ranks, 
and the friendship the latter imbibed at Pike's visit for 
the Americans, stood the test of time and vicissitudes. 

" He deserves on this account to receive from the go- 
vernment authorities, special and marked attention. 

"Joseph Mojou, an old Canadian of Point Prescott, 
told me that Tamahaw was called by the voyageurs, 
the 'Old Priest,' because he was a great talker on all 
occasions. In Sioux, tamwamda means to talk earnestly ; 
to vociferate ; and this bears some resemblance to his 
Indian name as at present pronounced. 

" My friend Mr. Hatch informs me, when he traded 
with the Winnebagoes and with the Sioux of Wabashaw 
band, he knew him, and has seen his commission from 
General Clarke. The Winnebagoes, who were ac- 
quainted with him, translated his name to mean the 
pike fish, and therefore called him Nazeekah — though 
tah-mah-hay and not tah^mah-liaw, is the word for i pike' 
in the Dakotah tongue. 

" It may be thought more pains are taken to elucidate 
this personal history of an old Indian, than the subject 
warrants. But when we reflect that this old Indian 
was the contemporary, if not personal friend of Pike; 
that he and one other Sioux were of all his tribe who 
sided with the Americans in the war of 1812 ; there is 
an interest justly attached to his identity and history, 
which deserves more than ordinary attention. The 
other Sioux who, like Tamahaw, joined the Americans 
in 1812, was Hay-pee-dan, who belonged to Wakootay's 
band. He is now deceased." 

As late as 1817, Colonel Dickson was living in Min- 
nesota, at Lake Traverse, and the Indian agent at 
Prairie du Chien suspected that he was alienating the 

19 



290 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Dahkotahs from the United States, and in company with 
Lord Selkirk, striving to secure their trade, as the fol- 
lowing extract from his letter of February sixteenth, 
1818, to the governor of Illinois will show: — 

" What do you suppose, sir, has been the result of the 
passage through my agency of this British nobleman V 
Two entire bands, and part of a third, all Sioux, have 
deserted us and joined Dickson, who has distributed ta 
them large quantities of Indian presents, together with 
flags, medals, etc. Knowing this, what must have been 
my feelings on hearing that his lordship had met with 
a favourable reception at St. Louis. The newspapers 
announcing his arrival, and general Scottish appearance, 
all tend to discompose me ; believing as I do, that he is 
plotting with his friend Dickson our destruction — 
sharpening the savage scalping knife, and colonizing a 
tract of country, so remote as that of the Red River, for 
the purpose, no doubt, of monopolizing the fur and 
peltry trade of this river, the Missouri and their waters ; 
a trade of the first importance to our Western States 
and Territories. A courier who had arrived a few days 
since, confirms the belief that Dickson is endeavouring 
to undo what I have done, and secure to the British 
government the affections of the Sioux, and subject the 
North-west Company to his lordship. ***** 
Dickson, as I have before observed, is situated near the 
head of the St. Peter's, to which place he transports his 
goods from Selkirk's Red River establishment, in carts 
made for the purpose. The trip is performed in five 
days, sometimes less. He is directed to build a fort 
on the highest land between Lac du Traverse and Red 

1 Earl of Selkirk. The agent's fears were entirely groundless. 



DICKSON'S TRUE CHARACTER. 291 

River, which he supposes will be the established line be- 
tween the two countries. This fort will be defended by 
twenty men, with two small pieces of artillery." 

It is said that after this, Dickson was arrested be- 
tween the Minnesota and St. Croix, and carried to St. 
Louis. 

Dickson, though an active partisan, is believed to 
have been a humane man. The American papers were 
naturally prejudiced against him, and all the cruelties 
of the savages were charged upon him. Says one editor 
at that day : " How will the English government, and 
their agent, Eobert Dickson, a native of Scotland, appear 
when it is announced to the world, that he employed a 
Sauk warrior to assassinate Governor Clarke at Prairie 
du Chien ? The governor's timely shifting of his sword 
alarmed and deterred from the commission of the act." 
There appears to have been no real foundation for any 
such impression. On the contrary, when Black Hawk 
expressed a desire to attack the defenceless settlements 
on the Mississippi, Dickson remonstrated, saying " that 
he had been a trader on the Mississippi many years ; 
had always been kindly treated ; and could not consent 
to send brave men to murder women and children. 
That* there was no soldiers there to fight, but where he 
was going to 'send the Indians there were a number of 
soldiers, and if they defeated them, the Mississippi 
country should be given up to them." 1 

1 Ramsay Crooks of New York Lakes to the Missouri, and from the 

city, in a letter to Hon. H. M. Rice, Wabash to the boundary between 

October 16, 1857, writes. the United States and Great Britain. 

" I first went to Mackinaw in Dickson's connection as a trader 
1805, as a clerk to Kobert Dickson with the Indians was almost entire- 
's Co., who were then engaged in the ly with the Scioux, (Dahcotahs) of 
trade with the Indians from the St. Peters, (Minnesota) ***** 



292 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

In 1815, Wapashaw and Little Crow, of the Kaposia 
band, visited the British post at Drummond's Island in 
Lake Huron, at the request of the commanding officer, 
who desired to thank them in the name of his majesty, 
for the services the Dahkotahs had rendered during the 
war. After his remark, he pointed to a few presents on 
the floor, which called forth the following speeches : — 

" My Father," said Wapashaw, " what is this I see 
before me ? A few knives and blankets ! Is this all 
you promised at the beginning of the war ? Where are 
those promises you made at Michilimackinac, and sent 
to our villages on the Mississippi? You told us you 
would never let fall the hatchet until the Americans 
were driven beyond the mountains ; that our British 
Father would never make peace without consulting his 
red children. Has that come to pass ? We never knew 
of this peace. We are told it was made by our Great 
Father beyond the water, without the knowledge of his 
war chiefs ; that it is your duty to obey his orders. 
What is this to us ? Will these paltry presents pay for 
the men we have lost both in the battle and in the war ? 
Will they soothe the feelings of our friends ? Will they 
make good your promises to us ? For myself I am an 
old man. I have lived long and always found the means 
of subsistence, and I can do so still !" 

The Little Crow, whose residence at that time was 
just below St. Paul, on the east side of the river, was 
more indignant. With vehemence he said, " After we 
have fought for you, endured many hardships, lost some 

I was proud to call Robert Dickson ferocity of the Indians on the fron- 

my friend, and I shall ever cherish tier, in the war of 1812, although he 

his memory as a man who exerted was branded as the worst of savages, 

himself in restraining the natural at the very time." 



FORMATION OF THE AMERICAN FUR COMPANY. 293 

of our people, and awakened the vengeance of our power- 
ful neighbours, you make a peace for yourselves, and 
leave us to obtain such terms as we can ! You no longer 
need our services, and offer these goods as a compensa- 
tion for having deserted us. But no ! we will not take 
them; we hold them and yourselves in equal contempt!" 
So saying, he spurned the presents with his foot, and 
walked away. On the nineteenth of July, at Portage 
des Sioux, a treaty was concluded between the Dahko- 
tahs of the Mississippi, Minnesota, and the Yankton 
division, and the United States, in which it was stipu- 
lated that there should be perpetual peace between 
them, and that all previous acts of hostility should be 
mutually forgiven and forgotten. 

After the fame of the North-west Company was esta- 
blished, another association of traders was formed, called 
the Mackinaw Company. In 1809 Astor organized the 
American Fur Company, and after two years bought 
out the Mackinaw Company, and created a new com- 
pany distinguished as the South-west. During the 
winter of 1815-16 Congress enacted a law, that no 
foreigner should engage in the Indian trade who did 
not become a citizen. Astor, after this, established a 
company with a former title, the American Fur Com- 
pany. 

The Indian trade of the North-west was so completely 
in the hands of British subjects, that it was discovered 
that the trade could not be carried on without their aid, 
and the Secretary of the Treasury issued a circular, 
allowing the Indian agents to license interpreters and 
voyageurs, who might be employed by the American 
traders. 

Under the new arrangements, American citizens began 



294 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

to identify themselves with the fur trade of Minnesota. 
As early as 1816 the late Judge Lockwood of Prairie 
du Chien, in the capacity of clerk, took charge of a 
trading post, near the sources of the Minnesota. His 
remarks, in relation to the Indian trade, which are 
given in his personal reminiscences, 1 show an intimate 
acquaintance with the trader's life : — 

" Tradition says that many years since, when there 
were many wintering traders in both the Upper and 
Lower Mississippi, it was the custom of every trader 
visiting Prairie du Chien, to have in store a keg of 
eight or nine gallons of good wine for convivial purposes 
when they should again meet in the spring, on which 
occasions they would have great dinner parties, and, as 
is the English custom, drink largely. But, when I came 
into the country, there were but few of the old traders 
remaining, and the storing of wine at Prairie du Chien 
had become almost obsolete, although the traders were 
then well supplied with wine, and that of the best kind, 
of which they made very free use. It was then thought 
that a clerk in charge of an outfit must have his keg of 
wine ; but, after the American Fur Company got fairly 
initiated into the trade, they abolished the custom of 
furnishing their clerks with this luxury at the expense 
of the outfit. As I have already said, the Indian trade 
of the Mississippi and Missouri and their tributaries was 
carried on from Mackinaw as the grand dep6t of the 
trade of the North-west. . 

" The traders and their clerks were then the aristo- 
cracy of the country ; and, to a Yankee at first sight, 
presented a singular state of society. To see gentle- 

1 Wis. His. Soc. Collections, vol. ii. 



YOYAGEURS' FOOD, DRESS, SALARY. 295 

men selecting wives of the nut-brown natives, and 
raising children of mixed blood, the traders and clerks 
living in as much luxury as the resources of the country 
would admit, and the engagees or boatmen living upon 
soup made of hulled corn with barely tallow enough to 
season it, devoid of salt, unless they purchased it them- 
selves at a high price — all this to an American was a 
novel mode of living, and appeared to be hard fare; 
but to a person acquainted with the habits of life of the 
Canadian peasantry, it would not look so much out of 
the way, as they live mostly on pea soup, seasoned with 
a piece of pork boiled down to grease ; seldom eating 
pork except in the form of grease that seasons their 
soup. With this soup, and a piece of coarse bread, 
their meals were made; hence the change from pea 
soup to corn is not so great, or the fare much worse 
than that which they had been accustomed to, as the 
corn is more substantial than peas, not being so flatu- 
lent. These men engaged in Canada generally for five 
years for Mackinaw and its dependencies, transferable 
like cattle to any one who wanted them, at generally 
about five hundred livres a year, or, in our currency, 
about eighty-three dollars and thirty-three cents; fur- 
nished with a yearly equipment or outfit of two cotton 
shirts, one three point or triangular blanket, a portage 
collar, and one pair of beef shoes ; being obliged, in the 
Indian country, to purchase their moccasins, tobacco, 
pipes, and other necessaries, at the price the trader saw 
fit to charge for them. Generally, at the end of five 
years, these poor voyageurs were in debt from fifty to 
one hundred and fifty dollars, and could not leave the 
country until they had paid their indebtedness ; and the 
policy of the traders was to keep as many of them in 



296 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the country as they could ; and to this end they allowed 
and encouraged their engagees to get in debt during the 
five years, which of necessity required them to remain. 

" These new hands were by the old voyageurs called 
in derision, mangeurs de lard — pork-eaters — as on leaving 
Montreal, and on the route to Mackinaw, they were fed 
on pork, hard bread, and pea soup, while the old voya- 
geurs in the Indian country ate corn soup, and such 
other food as could conveniently be procured. 1 These 
mangeurs de lard were brought at considerable expense 
and trouble from Montreal and other parts of Canada, 
frequently deserting after they had received some ad- 
vance in money and their equipment. Hence it was 
the object of the traders to keep as many of the old 
voyageurs in the country as they could, and they gene- 
rally permitted the mangeurs de lard to get largely in 
debt, as they could not leave the country and get back 
into Canada, except by the return boats or canoes which 
brought the goods, and they would not take them back 
if they were in debt anywhere in the country, which 
could be easily ascertained from the traders at Macki- 
naw. But if a man was prudent enough to save his 
wages, he could obtain passage, as he was no longer 
wanted in the country. 

" The engagements of the men at Montreal were made 
in the strongest language ; they bound themselves not 
to leave the duties assigned them by their employers or 
assigns either by day or night, under the penalty of for- 
feiting their wages ; to take charge of, and safely keep, 
the property put into their trust, and to give notice of 
any portending evil against their employers, or their 

1 The experienced voyageurs are ing to Snelling's work on the Nortti* 
called hivernans or winterers, accord- west. 






CHARACTER OF EARLY TRADERS. 297 

interests, that should come to their knowledge. It was 
the practice of the traders, when anything was stolen 
from the goods during the voyage, whether on the boat 
or on shore, to charge the boat's crew with a good round 
price for it ; and, if anything not indispensable was ac- 
cidentally left on shore at the encampment, they did 
not return for it, but charged it to the crew, as it was 
understood to be their duty, not the employer's, to see 
that everything was on board the boat. These people 
in the Indian country became inured to great hardships 
and privations, and prided themselves upon the distance 
they could travel per day, and the small quantity of pro- 
visions they could subsist on while travelling, and the 
number of days they could go without food. They are 
very easily governed by a person who understands 
something of their nature and disposition, but their 
burgeois or employer must be what they consider a 
gentleman, or superior to themselves, as they never feel 
much respect for a man who has, from an engagee, risen 
to the rank of a clerk. 

" The traders in this country, at the time I came into 
it, were a singular compound ; they were honest so far 
as they gave their word of honour to be relied upon ; 
and, in their business transactions between themselves, 
seldom gave or took notes for balances or assumptions. 
It rarely happened that one of them was found who 
did not fulfil his promises ; but when trading in the In- 
dian country, any advantage that could be taken of 
each other in a transaction was not only considered 
lawful — such as trading each other's credit — but an in- 
dication of tact and cleverness in business. Two traders 
having spent the winter in the same neighbourhood, 
and thus taken every advantage they could of each 



"298 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

other, would meet in the spring at Prairie du Chien, 
and amicably settle all difficulties over a glass of wine." 

After the war with Great Britain, enterprise made a 
few attempts to develope the resources of the Upper 
Mississippi. In 1818 the first grist-mill was built at 
Fisher's Coulee, four miles above Prairie du Chien. 
The next year the first saw-mill in the country was 
erected at the Falls of Black river, which was soon 
burned by the Indians. 

While the Ojibways and Dahkotahs now acknow- 
ledged the authority of the United States, they still 
continued their destructive warfare upon each other. 
Toward the close of the year 1818 one of their terrible 
conflicts took place, between Lac Traverse and the head 
waters of the Mississippi. During the summer a Yank- 
ton chief, called by the French the Grand, held a coun- 
cil with some Ojibways, and smoked the pipe of peace. 
When the latter were returning home, some of the 
Dahkotahs sneaked after them, scalped a few, and took 
a woman prisoner. 

When the receipt of the intelligence reached Leech 
Lake, thirteen young warriors, whose leader was Black 
Dog, started for the Dahkotah land, having vowed that 
they would not return until they had avenged the 
insult. For four weeks they travelled without meeting 
any of their foes; but at length, on the Pomme de Terre 
river, on a very foggy morning, they thought a buffalo 
herd was in sight, which proved to be a large Dahkotah 
camp. Some of the latter, who were on horseback, saw 
them, and gave the alarm. The Ojibways, finding that 
they were discovered, and that their enemies were nume- 
rous, sent one of their number to their homes east of 
the Mississippi, to announce their probable death. The 



SPARTAN BRAVERY. 299 

twelve who remained now began to dig holes in the 
ground, and prepare for the conflict, from which they 
could not hope to escape. 

Soon they were surrounded by the Dahkotahs ; but 
as they drew nigh many were mortally wounded by 
the Spartan band. The leader of the Dahkotah party, 
exasperated by their continual loss, gave orders for a 
general onset, when the whole Ojibway party were 
tomahawked in their holes. The thirteenth returned 
home, and related the circumstances; and though their 
friends mourned their death, they delighted in their 
bravery. 

On July 9th, 1817, Major S. H. Messrs. Gun and King, grandsons 

Long and his friend, Mr. Hemp- of Carver, visited the cave a few 

stead, left Prairie du Chien in a six- days after, to find some basis for 

oared boat for Falls of St. Anthony, urging the alleged land grant to 

They reached Carver's Cave on the Carver by the Indians, but they 

16th, and found the entrance so could find but one Indian disposed 

low that they had to lie down and to know anything relative to the 

creep in. Its greatest width was claim, 
eight, and its height seven feet. 



300 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XV. 

While citizens of the United States and Great Bri- 
tain, speaking the same language, and having many 
common associations, were engaged in war near the 
southern limits of Minnesota, a disgraceful strife was 
beginning between the employees of the Hudson Bay 
and North-west Companies, on the northern border. 

The channel of trade, west of Lake Superior, followed 
the line of the Algonquin settlements, and entered the 
interior chiefly by way of Pigeon river, and the chain 
of lakes that separates the British possessions from 
Minnesota. 

Yeranderie, the French officer, as we have seen in a 
previous chapter, was the first that pushed his way to- 
ward the Rocky Mountains, and is said to have built a 
fort at the junction of the Assineboine and Red River. 
As soon as 1762 maps designate Fort la Reine at the 
confluence, and here at an early period coureurs des bois, 
from the French establishment at Mackinaw, used to 
trade with the Omahaws and Assineboines. On the east 
side of Lake Winnipeg, before the cession of Canada 
to the English, there was a French post called Maure- 
pas. On the Lake of the Woods there was Fort St. 
Charles, and in the lake was an island, near the south- 




KcAuad from the original ty 7C Omsby J»^"V 



MASSACRE IN LAKE OF THE WOODS. 301 

eastern extremity, called Massacre Island, from the fol- 
lowing circumstance :— 

About the year 1736, a birch canoe with eight French- 
men, left the post on the shores of the Lake of the 
Woods, and had proceeded to this island, which is not 
far from the mouth of the river which leads to Kainy 
Lake. It was quite early when they arrived, and there 
was not a breeze perceptible. Kindling a fire to cook 
their repast, the smoke rose like a lofty column, and 
attracted a war party of the Dahkotahs, who, landing 
on the opposite side of the isle, surprised the French 
and massacred them. At the junction of Rainy Lake 
river with the lake, there was Fort St. Pierre, and at 
the grand portage of Lake Superior there was the trad- 
ing establishment of Kamanistigoya. This region of 
country was claimed by the Hudson Bay Company, 
under a charter granted to them by Charles II. on May 
second, 1670 ; but during the eighteenth century they 
did not establish posts in the region bordering on Min- 
nesota. 

Before the American Revolution, private traders, who 
obtained their outfits at Mackinaw, gained possession 
of the trade, and, after the consolidation of several com- 
panies with the North-west Company of Montreal in 
1783, there was a larger business transacted with the 
Indians who lived in this region so abundant in furs. 
At the commencement of the nineteenth century, the 
Earl of Selkirk, a wealthy, Knd-hearted, but visionary 
nobleman of Scotland, wrote several tracts, urging the 
importance of colonizing British emigrants in these dis- 
tant British possessions, and thus check the disposition 
to settle in the United States. In the year 1811, he 

* Appendix K 



302 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

obtained a grant of land from the Hv ..son Bay Com- 
pany, described as follows : — 

" Beginning on the western shore of Lake Winipie, 
at a point in 52° 30' north latitude, and thence running 
due west to the Lake Winipig ,shish, otherwise called 
Little Winipie, thence in a southerly direction, through 
the said lake, so as to strike its western shore in lati- 
tude 52°, thence due west to the place where the par- 
allel 52° intersects the western branch of Red river, 
otherwise called Assiniboine river, thence due south 
from that 'point of intersection, to the height of land 
which separates the waters running into Hudson's Bay 
from those of the Missouri and Missisippi rivers, thence 
in an easterly direction along the height of land to the 
source of the river Winipie, meaning by such last-named 
river the principal branch of the waters which unite in 
the Lake Saginagas, thence along the main stream of 
those waters, and the middle of the several lakes 
through which they pass, to the mouth of the Winipie 
river, and thence in a northerly direction through the 
middle of Lake Winipie, to the place of beginning, 
which territory is called Ossiniboia" or Assiniboia. 

Previous to this time the only inhabitants besides the 
Indians, were Canadians, who, by long intercourse with 
savages, had learned all their vices, and imitated none 
of their admirable traits. Unwilling to return to the 
restraints of well-ordered society, from which they had 
fled in youth, they were fond of 



" Vast 

And sudden deeds of violence, 

Adventures wild, and wonders of the moment." 



SUFFERINGS OF HIGHLANDERS. 303 

They were p*Ljud of the title "Gens Libres," the free 
people. 

The offspring oi, their intercourse with Indian females 
was numerous. Tn^ "bois brules" were athletic, ex- 
pert hunters, good boatmen, fine horsemen, and able to 
speak the native language of both father and mother. 
Their chief delight and mode of subsistence was in 
fishing and snaring the buffalo. 

In the autumn of 1812, a small advance party of 
colonists proceeded to a point in latitude 50° north near 
the confluence of the Assineboine, on the banks of the 
Red river, whose head waters after heavy rains inter- 
lock with those of the Minnesota river, and commenced 
the erection of houses and preparations for the expected 
colonists. But their work was soon stopped by a party 
of men of the North-west Company, attired in Indian 
costume, ordering them to desist. The affrighted emi- 
grants were persuaded to take refuge at Pembina, Min- 
nesota, by a company of men that they thought were 
savages. The latter agreed to carry the children, but 
the men and women were obliged to walk. The exac- 
tions of the guides were cruel. One Highlander had to 
relinquish a gun that had been carried by his father at 
the battle of Culloden, and which was prized next to 
the family Bible, and a shrinking woman had to part 
with the marriage ring which had been placed upon her 
finger in the bloom of her youth, by a devoted lover in 
the Highlands. For the sake of creating alarm, the 
guides would run off with the babes and children, and 
the distracted mothers refused to be comforted, because 
their children were not to be seen any more, as they 
supposed. 1 

1 " Red River Settlement, by Alexander Ross. London, 185G." 



304 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

This sport, more worthy of bears than of men, so 
shocked the nervous system of the more delicate that 
they never recovered, and found an early and cold 
grave. 

At Pembina the more hardy lived during the winter 
in tents, and in the spring returned to the colony to 
resume their labours. 

Returning in the spring to the site of the colony, they 
in the sweat of their brow cultivated the soil, but the 
fowls of the air anticipated the harvest, and the winter 
of 1813-14 was again passed at Pembina. 1 

Their success in the chase was however limited, and 
when they returned to their settlement in the spring 
they were in appearance half starved, and all tattered 
and torn. 

By the month of September, 1815, the number of 
settlers was about two hundred, and the colony was 
called Kildonan, after the old parish in Scotland in 
which many were born. With increased numbers all 
things seemed auspicious. Houses were built, a mill 
was erected, imported cattle and sheep began to graze 
on the undulating plains. The Highlander was pleased 
when he discovered that 



" Here no stony ground provokes the wrath of the farmer. 
Smoothly the ploughshare runs through the soil, as a keel through the 

water. 
Here, too, numberless herds run wild, and unclaimed in the prairies ; 
Here, too, lands may be had for the asking, and forests of timber 
With a few blows of the axe, are hewn and framed into houses." 



1 This word is pronounced as if name of a red berry that grows in 
written Pembinnaw, and is a con- the vicinity, 
traction of an Ojibway word, the 



CAMERON PRODUCES DISCONTENT. 305 

The employees of the North-west Company were 
however exceedingly restive under the march of im- 
provement, and the proprietors of the company sus- 
pected that it was a ruse of their powerful rival, the 
Hudson Bay Company, to oust them from the lucrative 
posts they were occupying. 

As early as 1813 the clerks and engagers of the Mon- 
treal traders endeavoured to excite the suspicions of the 
Indians, but without success. 

At a meeting of the partners of the North-west 
Company, held at Fort William, at the head of Lake 
Superior, in the summer of 1814, Duncan Cameron and 
Alexander McDonell were appointed to concert mea- 
sures to stop the progress of the colony. 1 

About the last of August, they arrived at the North- 
west Company's post, about a half mile from the Kil- 
donan settlement, at the forks of the Red and Assine- 
boine rivers. 

Cameron, during the winter and spring of 1815, with 
great art obtained the confidence of the Highlanders. 
He spoke their native Gaelic tongue, extended hospi- 
tality to their families, and insinuated rather than 
evinced direct hostility to the plans of Selkirk. To 
give the air of authority, he wore a suit of regimentals 
that belonged to a disbanded corps of voyageurs, and in 
his communications, subscribed himself " D. Cameron, 
Captain Voyageur Corps, Commanding Officer, Red 



1 Alexander McDonell, in a letter ties against the enemy in Red river. * 

written to a friend at Montreal, from * * * * Nothing but the complete 

one of the portages west of Lake downfall of the colony will satisfy 

Superior, says, " You see myself and some by fair or foul means. So here 

our mutual friend Mr. Cameron, so is at them with all my heart and 

far on our way to commence hostili- energy." 
20 



306 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

River." The fair promises he made unsettled the minds 
of the colonists, and seduced many to leave the spot. 
As soon as the free Canadians and half-breeds learned 
that their employers were not favourable to the colony, 
they grew insolent. One of the disaffected Selkirkers, 
by the name of George Campbell, one Sunday, immedi- 
ately after a sermon had been read in accordance with 
a venerable Scotch custom 1 to the assembled settlement,, 
rose and read an order issued by Cameron, and directed 
to the temporary superintendent of the colony, demand- 
ing the surrender of their brass field-pieces. 

On Monday morning, the governor's house being 
guarded, the employees of the North-west Company 
went to the store-house, broke it open, and carried off 
to their post, field-pieces, swivel, and a small howitzer; 
in all amounting to nine. This was a signal for the 
desertion of the disaffected Selkirkers, who repaired to 
the quarters of the North-west Company. 

In the spring of 1815, McKenzie and Morrison, of 
the North-west Company at Sandy Lake, Minnesota, told 
the chief Kawtawabetay, that they would give him and 
his people all the goods or merchandise and rum they 

1 The first emigrants were all the governor-in-chief of the country, 
Presbyterians. Their expected min- as well as by the governor of the 
ister having been delayed, a worthy colony. These men with their fol- 
and pious elder, James Sutherland, lowers gladly heard him expound 
"was appointed to marry and bap- the Scriptures. * * * * Of all men, 
tize, from which functions he was clergymen or others, that ever en- 
never released by the arrival of the tered this country, none stood higher 
ordained minister, in consequence in the estimation of the settlers, both 
of the difficulties in which the colony for sterling piety, and Christian con- 
was placed. * * * On his arrival duct, than Mr. Sutherland." — Red 
at York Factory, the right hand of River Settlement, p. 31. 
fellowship was held out to him by 



THE MARCH OF THE EXILES. 307 

had at Leech Lake, Sandy Lake, and Fort William, if 
they would declare war against the settlers on Eed 
river. 1 

On the morning of Sunday, June the eleventh, a party 
of North-west employees, armed with loaded muskets, 
stationed themselves in a grove near the governor's 
house, and commenced an attack, wounding four in- 
mates, one of whom died. After this unprovoked 
assault, they demanded Miles McDonell, the governor, 
who was delivered, and subsequently carried to Mon- 
treal. This step did not at all satisfy the traders of 
the North-west Company, but as soon as the governor 
was carried off toward Canada by Duncan Cameron, his 
partner, Alexander McDonell, commenced new aggres- 
sions, such as seizing the horses, driving off the cattle, 
and pillaging the farms of the colonists. Opposite the 
settlement he erected a battery, upon which he mounted 
two of the Selkirk field-pieces, and established a camp 
of about fifty or sixty of the Canadian servants, clerks, 
and bois brules. 

Dispirited by constant annoyance, the broken-hearted 
settlers sent word to the head of the North-west Com- 
pany, that they would leave their farms and homes in 
a few days. About this time, toward the latter part of 
the pleasant month of June, two Ojibway chiefs arrived 
with forty braves, and strange as it may seem, they 
offered to escort the persecuted colonists with their pro- 
perty to Lake Winnipeg. Guarded by the grim children 
of the forest from the assault of their foes, they, like 
the Acadian peasants in Evangeline, were " friendless, 
hopeless, homeless. " 

1 Earl of Selkirk's statement. 



308 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

" Driving in ponderous wains, their household goods to the sea-shore, 
Pausing, and looking back to gaze once more on their dwellings, 
Ere they were shut from sight, by the winding road, and the woodland ; 
Close at their sides, their children ran, and urged on the oxen, 
While in their little hands they clasped some fragments of playthings." 

After they had embarked in the boats, "sheeted 
smoke with flashes of flame intermingled," announced 
that the mill and their houses were fired by the torch 
of the incendiary. 

When the fugitives from persecution had been some- 
time at the northern extremity of Lake Winnipeg, 
Colin Eobertson, of the Hudson Bay Company, arrived, 
and offered to lead them back to the settlement from 
which they had been expelled. Accepting his proposal, 
they returned, and were soon augmented by a party of 
emigrants just arrived from the Highlands of Scotland. 
During the winter of 1816, a majority remained at the 
mouth of the Pembina river, in Minnesota, for the 
purpose of hunting the buffalo. But early in the spring 
they returned to the Kildonan settlement. 

In the spring of 1816, Duncan Cameron, who had 
returned, was arrested by Colin Robertson, and taken 
towards the coast of Hudson's Bay, for the purpose of 
being sent to England for trial. 

The Earl of Selkirk, hearing of the distressed condi- 
tion of his colony, sailed for America, and on his arrival 
at New York, in the fall of 1815, heard that they had 
been bribed or compelled to leave the settlement. 

Proceeding to Montreal, he found some of the settlers 
who had been under the influence of the North-west 
Company, in great poverty. While here he gained the 
information that a remnant of the colony had returned 
and re-established themselves, and immediately sent an 
express to announce his arrival and determination to be 



SELKIRK SENDS AN ARMED FORCE. 309 

with them in the spring. These glad tidings were sent 
by Laguimoniere, who, in the depths of winter, had tra- 
velled on foot from the Red River, by way of Red Lake 
and Fond du Lac, Minnesota, to bring the intelligence to 
Montreal that the colony had reoccupied their settlement. 

The messenger never reached his destination with the 
kind words of Selkirk. In the night he was way-laid 
near Fond du Lac, brutally beaten, and robbed of his 
canoe and despatches. At a council held by the super- 
intendent of Indian affairs, at Drummond's Island, on 
the twenty-second of July, 1816, an Ojibway chief 
of Sandy Lake, Minnesota, stated that Grant, oue of 
the North-west Company, offered him two kegs of rum, 
and two carrots of tobacco, if he would send some of his 
young men in search of some persons taking despatches 
to Red River, and pillage the letters and papers. 
Shortly after this, the chief testified that Laguimoniere 
was brought in by a negro and a party of Ottawas. 

Failing to obtain military aid from the British autho- 
rities in Canada, Selkirk made an engagement with four 
officers and eighty privates, of the discharged Meuron 
regiment, twenty of the De Watteville, and a few of 
the Glengary Fencibles, which had served in the late 
war with the United States, to accompany him to Red 
River. They were to receive monthly wages for navi- 
gating the boats to Red River, to have lands assigned 
them, and a free passage if they wished to return. 

When he reached Sault St. Marie, he received the 
intelligence that the colony had again been destroyed. 

In the spring of 1816, Semple, a mild, amiable, but 
not altogether judicious man, the chief governor of the 
factories and territories of the Hudson Bay Company, 
arrived at Red River. In the month of April he sent 



310 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

a Mr. Pambrun to a trading post on a neighbouring 
river, and as he was returning with five boats, a quan- 
tity of furs, and six hundred bags of pemmican, he 
was attacked, on the twelfth of May, by an armed party 
of the adherents of the North-west Company, and cap- 
tured. This act was in retaliation for the attack made 
by Robertson on their post, at the junction of the Red 
and Assineboine rivers, during the previous autumn. 
On the eighteenth of June a portion of this party left 
Fort Qui Appele, under the guidance of Cuthbert Grant, 
Lacerte, Frazer, Hoole, and Thomas McKay, and went 
toward Red River. Information had been brought by 
friendly Indians and others, that an attack was intended, 
and an almost constant watch was kept up night and 
day, to discover the approach of any of the parties of 
the enemy. About five o'clock in the afternoon, on the' 
nineteenth of June, a man in the watch-house of the 
fort of the Selkirkers, called out to Governor SempM 
that horsemen were approaching. The governor, per- 
ceiving with a spy-glass sixty or seventy men, ordered 
twenty men to accompany him, and meet them. After 
Semple had proceeded half a mile, some of the settlers 
were met moving toward the fort, saying that a party 
was coming with cannon. One of the governor's party 
was requested to go back and obtain a field-piece from 
the fort. As the messenger was returning with the 
cannon, Governor Semple was surrounded. The hostile 
party first sent forward the reckless son of a Montreal 
tavern-keeper, to inquire what the governor was about. 
Semple inquired what his party wanted? Boucher 
insultingly asked, " Why did you, rascal ! destroy our 
fort ?" The governor, laying hold of his horse's bridle, 
said, " Scoundrel ! do you talk thus to me ?" Instantly 



GOVERNOR SEMPLE KILLED. 311 

Boucher sprang from his horse, and the firing com- 
menced. Semple was soon wounded, and called to his 
men to take care of themselves ; but they gathered in 
a knot around their bleeding leader, and while they 
collected, the North-west party firecf a volley, by which 
the greater part were instantly killed. The remnant 
called for mercy, but in vain; all were massacred but 
four or five. Among those who were spared, was John 
Pritchard. In his narration he remarks, that "the 
knife, axe, or ball put an end to the existence of the 
wounded, and on the bodies of the dead were practised 
all those horrible barbarities, which characterize the in- 
human heart of the savage. The amiable and mild Mr. 
Semple, with broken thigh, lying on his side, supporting 
his head upon his hand, said to Grant, the leader of the 
attacking party, 'I am not mortally wounded, and if 
you could get me conveyed to the fort, I think I should 
live.' Grant promised he would do so, and immediately 
left him in the care of a Canadian, who afterwards told, 
that an Indian of their party came up and shot Mr. Sem- 
ple in the breast. I entreated Grant to procure me the 
watch or even the seals of Mr. Semple, for transmitting 
them to his friends, but I did not succeed. Our force 
amounted to twenty-eight persons, of whom twenty-one 
were killed." 

The Indian who killed the kind-hearted Semple was 
an Ojibway of Minnesota. Schoolcraft, in 1832, says, 
he saw, at Leech Lake, Majegabowi, the man who had 
killed Governor Semple, after he fell wounded from his 
horse. 

The morning after the massacre, Grant and Bourassa, 
with sixteen or seventeen others, insisted upon the 
abandonment of Fort Douglas, and the settlement. 



312 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Two days afterwards the settlers, to the number of two 
hundred, including women and children, were compelled 
to embark in boats, to be conveyed to the sea-coast. 
On the second day's voyage they were met by Norman 
McLeod, a partner of the North-west Company, with 
nine or ten canoes, and a batteau with two pieces of 
artillery, formerly belonging to the Selkirk settlement, 
and a hundred armed men. As his party perceived the 
settlers they raised the warwhoop, and McLeod inquired 
whether Robertson or Semple was in the boats. In- 
formed of the death of the governor, they broke open 
his trunks, and took his papers. 

On his way to Red River, McLeod held a council 
with the Ojibways at Rainy Lake, and persuaded the 
Round Lake Chief and some fifteen or twenty others 
to join his party. Among those who accompanied Mc- 
Leod in the capacity of clerk was Charles de Reinhard, 
once a sergeant in the De Meuron regiment. He was 
sent to a station of the company, at " Bas de la riviere 
Winipic." In August some deserters from the employ 
of Owen Keveny, a Hudson Bay trader, arrived there. 
They told McLeod that they had been badly treated, 
and he deputed Reinhard to act as constable and seize 
seize Keveny. 

Six bois brules accompanied him, and he soon re- 
turned with the trader, who was then placed in a canoe 
with three half-breed voyageurs, and consigned to Fort 
William on Lake Superior. On their way they were 
met by a partner of the North-west Company, who re- 
moved the half-breeds and substituted two Canadians 
and an Indian, who was to act as guide. The canoe 
was again met by traders of the company, who ordered 
them back. The two Canadians, on their return, quar- 



THE MURDER OF KEVENY. 313 

reled with the Indian who left them, and losing their 
way, they landed Keveny on a small island and de- 
serted him. 

Mr. McLellan now started in search of the missing 
party, and first found the Indian and two Canadians, 
and at last Keveny, who was with an encampment of 
Indians. McLellan apprehended him, and purchasing 
a canoe placed him alone in company with Reinhard, a 
bois brule, and an Indian. He then told Reinhard to 
put Keveny to death at the first favourable spot. A 
short distance above a deep gorge of granite through 
which the Winnipeg river rushes, the traveller used 
to pass a cross, which marked the spot where Keveny's 
life was taken. 

It seems, from the confession of Reinhard, that he 
had desired to go on shore for a few moments, and 
when he was returning to the canoe, the half-breed took 
aim and shot him through the neck. As he fell against 
the canoe, Reinhard, seeing that he wished to speak, 
drew his sword, and twice plunging it in his back, soon 
rendered him speechless. 

Joining their employer McLellan, they detailed the 
circumstances, and a distribution of his bloody clothes 
and other effects took place. McLellan, opening the 
writing desk of the murdered man, spent the night in 
reading and burning his letters and papers. Reinhard, 
after a protracted trial in Canada, was convicted and 
executed. During the trial stress was laid upon the 
question, whether the scene of the murder was in the 
province of Upper Canada. After much testimony from 
the best geographers in the country, it was decided that 
the limits of Canada did not extend to that point. 

Previous to the intelligence of the death of Governor 



314 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Semple, the Earl of Selkirk had made arrangements to 
visit his colony by way of Fond du Lac, the St. Louis 
river, and Ked Lake of Minnesota ; but he now changed 
his mind, and proceeded with his force to Fort William, 
the chief trading post of the North-west Company on 
Lake Superior; and apprehending the principal part- 
ners, warrants of commitment were issued, and they 
were forwarded to the attorney-general of Upper Ca- 
nada. 

While Selkirk was engaged at Fort William, a party 
of emigrants in charge of Miles McDonnel, governor, 
and Captain D'Orsomen, went forward to reinforce the 
colony. At Rainy Lake they obtained the guidance of 
a man who had all the characteristics of an Indian, and 
yet had a bearing which suggested a different origin. 
By his efficiency and temperate habits, he secured the 
respect of his employers, and on the Earl of Selkirk's 
arrival at Red river, his attention was called to him, 
and in his welfare he became deeply interested. By 
repeated conversations with him, memories of a differ- 
ent kind of existence were aroused, and the light of 
other days began to brighten. Though he had forgot- 
ten his father's name, he furnished sufficient data for 
Selkirk to proceed with a search for his relatives. 
Visiting the United States in 1817, he published a cir- 
cular in the papers of the Western States, which led to 
the identification of the man. 

It appeared from his own statement, and those of his 
friends, that his name was John Tanner, the son of a 
minister of the gospel, who, about the year 1790, lived 
on the Ohio river, near the Miami. Shortly after his 
residence there a band of roving Indians passed near 
the house, and found John Tanner, then a little boy, 



JOHN TANNER CARRIED OFF BY INDIANS. 315 

filling his hat with walnuts which he had picked from 
a tree. Seizing him, they kept him quiet by threats, 
<xnd fled. The party was led by an Ottawa Indian, 
whose wife had lost a son. To compensate for his 
death, the mother begged her husband to capture one 
about the same age. To accomplish this was the object 
of the Indian's visit to the white settlements, and great 
was the joy of the wife, when he brought her the desired 
gift. Adopted into the tribe, Tanner grew up as an 
Indian, and became expert with the gun, and noted for 
bravery. In time the band with which he was con- 
nected wandered into the Red River country. Declin- 
ing the position of chief which was offered to him, he 
was esteemed by all of his companions. After Lord Sel- 
kirk found his relatives he visited them, but soon 
returned to the Indian country. 

The harvest of 1817 was luxuriant ; the seed that had 
been sown proved good seed, bearing forty and sixty fold, 
but so little had been sown that it again became neces- 
sary for the settlers to pass the winter in hunting. 

From Pembina they proceeded into the open prairies 
of North-western Minnesota, to join a camp of Indian 
and half-breed hunters. Unprovided with snow shoes, 
the road was truly a " via dolorosa." Without a par- 
ticle of food remaining, the half-starved colonists at 
last reached the long-sought camp. 

The night of their arrival was Christmas eve of 
1817, and the Indians and mixed bloods were touched 
by their haggard faces, and shared with them their own 
scanty fare. The buffalo this winter was very scarce, 
and the Scotch dragged through it, a set of mere camp 
.slaves. 

With the mild rays of the spring of 1818, hope re- 



816 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

vived, and once more they trudged back to their settle- 
ment. They worked with pleasant anticipations as 
they beheld first the blade, then the ear develope ; but, 
one afternoon, just as the harvest was ripe, and they 
were about to put in the sickle, "behold, the Lord 
formed grasshoppers, in the beginning of the shoot- 
ing up of the latter growth," 1 and their joy was turned 
to mourning. The air was filled with these insects; 
"the earth did quake before them, like the noise of 
chariots on the tops of the mountains, or like the noise 
of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble," was 
the sound of their movements. When the next morn- 
ing arose, it was " a day of darkness and of gloominess ; 
a day of clouds and thick darkness," and strong men 
were bowed down ; and, like the Hebrew captives, by 
the waters of Babylon, they lifted up their voices and 
wept. 

The next year the calamity was worse. " They were 
produced in masses, two, three, and four inches in depth. 
The water was infected by them. Along the river they 
were to be found in heaps like sea-weed, and might be 
.shovelled with a spade. Every vegetable substance 
was either eaten up, or stripped to the bare stalk ; the 
^eaves of the bushes, and the bark of the trees, shared the 
same fate ; and the grain vanished as fast as it appeared 
above ground. Even fires, if kindled out of doors, were 
immediately extinguished by them." 2 

The old Highlander understood, as he never had 
before, the imagery of the prophet, which he had often 
read in his well-thumbed Bible, for truly " the land was 
as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a 

1 Amos, chap, vii., verse 2. Joel, chap. ii. 2 Ross 



GRASSHOPPER INVASION. 317 

desolate wilderness, nothing did escape them." They 
ran upon the wall ; they climbed up on the houses ; they 
entered in at the windows like a thief. 

With the whole head sick, and the whole heart faint, 
the brawny Scotchmen sought once more the plains of 
Minnesota, and became sons of Nimrod, chasing the 
deer and the buffalo. But, when they reflected upon 
the influence of this " vagabond" life upon their child- 
ren, they were impelled by their consciences to make 
one more attempt to establish a home for their wives 
and little ones. 

During the winter of 1819-20, a deputation of their 
number, mounted on snow shoes, passed through the 
then wilderness of Minnesota, and came to Prairie du 
Chien, a journey of a thousand miles, to purchase wheat 
for seed. 

In 1820, on the fifteenth day of April, three Macki- 
naw boats, manned with six hands each, laden with two 
hundred bushels of wheat, one hundred bushels of oats, 
and thirty bushels of peas, under the charge of Messrs. 
Graham and Laidlaw, left Prairie du Chien for Selkirk's 
colony, on the Red River of the North. Detained by 
ice at Lake Pepin, they planted the May pole thereon. 
On the third of May, the boats passed through the lake. 
The voyage was continued up the Minnesota to Big Stone 
Lake, from which a portage was made into Lake Tra- 
verse, a mile and a half distant, the boats being placed 
on wooden rollers. Then descending the Sioux Wood 
river to the Red river, the party arrived at Pembina in 
safety, with their charge, on the third day of June. 
Pembina was, at that time, as now, a small hamlet, the 
rival companies of the North-west and of Hudson's Bay 
having each a trading post, at the confluence of the 



318 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

stream with the Red river, but on opposite sides. The 
crop at Selkirk's colony having entirely failed the pre- 
vious year, the grain was much needed for seed the en- 
suing season. The trip performed in these boats is 
worthy of mention, as it is the only instance of heavy 
articles being transported the entire distance from Prairie 
du Chien to the Red River settlement, with the excep- 
tion of the portage between Big Stone and Traverse 
Lakes by water Charles St. Antoine, who was one of 
the crew, became a citizen of Dahkotah county, and is- 
one of the few survivors of that eventful voyage. The 
party returned across the plains on foot as far as Big 
Stone Lake, from which point they descended to Prairie 
du Chien in canoes. 1 

The cost of this expedition was about six thousand 
dollars, and was borne by Lord Selkirk. 

In 1820, Captain R. May, a citizen of Berne, in the 
British service, was commissioned by Selkirk to visit 
Switzerland, and engage persons to repair to his colony. 

After years of bloodshed, heart burnings, fruitless liti- 
gations, and vast expense, the strife was concluded by 
compromise. In the year 1821, the two companies, in 
the language of the articles of settlement, finding " that 
the competition in the said trade had been found for some 
years, then past, to be productive of great inconvenience 
and loss, not only to the said company and association, 
but to the said trade in general, and also of great injury to 
the native Indians, and of other persons his Majesty's 
subjects," they did enter into an agreement for putting 
an end to competition, and carrying on the trade t<> 
gether. 

1 Sibley's Historical Society Address. 



UNITED STATES TROOPS STATIONED IN MINNESOTA. 310 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The rumour that Lord Selkirk was founding a colony 
on the borders of the United States, and that the Hud- 
son Bay Company had posts within the region of country 
comprised within the boundaries of Minnesota, did not 
fail to reach the authorities at Washington. 

Under the administration of Mr. Monroe, the head 
of the war department was the intellectual and dis- 
tinguished John C. Calhoun. At that period he was 
deeply interested in developing the resources of every 
section of the Union. During his term of office, the 
efficiency of the army was increased ; the condition of 
the aborigines noted, and the power of the United 
States felt in remote regions where it had not been 
acknowledged. 

On the tenth of February, 1819, an order was issued 
from the war department, concentrating the Fifth Regi- 
ment of Infantry at Detroit, with a view to transporta- 
tion by way of Fox and Wisconsin rivers to Prairie 
du Chien. After garrisoning that post and Rock Island, 
the remainder were to proceed to the mouth of the 
Minnesota, then designated the Saint Peter's, to esta- 
blish a post at which the head-quarters of the regiment 
were to be located. About the time of this order, the 



320 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

portion of Illinois territory not included within the 
state of that name, was attached to Michigan, of which 
Lewis Cass was governor. 

In the spring of 1819, the county of Crawford was 
organized, which included a large portion of Minnesota. 
Colonel Leavenworth, with the troops on their way to 
build the new post at the junction of the Minnesota, 
brought blank commissions for county officers to be 
filled up by the inhabitants. With difficulty officers 
were obtained. Johnson, United States factor, was 
made Chief Justice of the County Court, and his asso- 
ciates were Michael Brisbois and Francis Bouthillier ; 
Wilfred Owens was appointed Judge of Probate ; John 
S. Findley, Clerk of the Court, and Thomas McNair, 
Sheriff. 

Colonel Leavenworth, having attended to his duties 
at the Prairie, ascended the Mississippi with his soldiers 
in keel-boats. The water was so low at that period, 
that for weeks they "dragged their slow length along," 
not reaching Mendota until September, the contem- 
plated site for temporary barracks, the remains of which 
are visible above the present village of Mendota, on the 
south side of the river. The officers with their wives 
lived in the boats until rude huts and pickets were 
erected. Before the quarters were completed, the rigour 
of winter was felt, and the removal from the open 
boats to the log cabins, plastered with clay, was con- 
sidered a privilege. Though the first winter was ex- 
tremely cold, the garrison remained cheerful, and the 
officers maintained pleasant social intercourse. 1 During 

1 Mrs. Ellet, in a sketch of the wife " Huts had also to be built, though 
of the first commissary of this post, in the rudest manner, to serve as a 
says : shelter during the winter, from the 



CANTONMENT AT MENDOTA. 321 

the winter, that dreadful disease, scurvy, appeared 
among the troops, and raged so extensively, that for a 
few days military duty was suspended. It is said that 
"so sudden was the attack, that soldiers apparently in 
good health when they retired at night, were found dead 
in the morning. One man who was relieved from his 
tour of sentinel duty, and stretched himself upon a 
bench, when he was called four hours after to resume 
his duties, was found lifeless." 1 

The colonel at this time displayed his humanity, and, 
with a few friends, spent several days searching the 
country for antiscorbutics.* 

In the month of May, 1820, they entered into summer 
encampment at a spring not far from the old Baker 
trading house. The camp was named Cold Water. On 
the tenth of September the corner stone of Fort Snel- 
ling was laid. The winter of 1820-21 found them 
again at the cantonment on the south side of the river ; 
the present fort not being sufficiently advanced for 
occupation by the troops. The first pine lumber ever 

rigours of a severe climate. After was no protection for the inmates, 

living with her family in the boat but the baby in the cradle was 

for a month, it was a highly apprecia- pushed under the bed for safety, 

ted luxury for Mrs. Clark to find Notwithstanding these discomforts 

herself at home in a log hut, plastered and perils, the inconveniences they 

with clay, and chinked for her re- had to encounter, and their isolated 

ception. It was December before situation, the little party of emi 

they got into winter quarters, and grants were not without the social 

the fierce winds of that exposed enjoyments ; they were nearly all 

region, with terrific storms now and young married persons, cheerful, 

(hen, were enough to make them and fond of gayety, and had their 

keep within doors as much as possi- dancing assemblages once a fort- 

ble. Once in a violent tempest, the night." 

roof of their dwelling was raised by l Sibley's Address before Minne 

the wind, and partially slid off; there sota Historical Society. 
21 * Appendix L 



322 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

cut on Rum River was by soldiers for the use of the for- 
tifications. 

On the eighteenth of November, 1819, Governor Cass 
addressed a communication to Mr. Calhoun, secretary 
of war, proposing an exploration of the territory 
recently attached to Michigan, for the purpose of becom- 
ing better acquainted with the Indian tribes, and its 
mineral and agricultural resources. The suggestions 
were approved, and on the morning of July fifth, 1820, 
the expedition, on the forty-third day of their journey 
by the lakes from Detroit, entered the St. Louis river 
of Minnesota. The expedition consisted of Governor 
Cass, Dr. Wolcott, Indian agent at Chicago and surgeon, 
Captain Douglass, military engineer, H. R. Schoolcraft, 
mineralogist, Lieutenant Mackay, James Doty, Esq., 
secretary, Major Forsyth, private secretary to the 
governor, C. C. Trowbridge, topographer, besides the 
voyageurs, soldiers, and Indians, amounting in all to 
about forty persons. 

Three miles above the mouth of the St. Louis they 
came to an Ojibway village of fourteen lodges. Among 
the residents were the children of an African, by the 
name of Bungo, the servant of a British officer who 
once commanded at Mackinaw. Their hair was curled 
and skin glossy, and their features altogether African. 
A short distance above there was the abandoned esta- 
blishment of the old North-west Company. 

On the evening of the first day's ascent of the stream, 
the expedition lodged at the American Fur Company's 
houses, twenty-four miles from the lake. The establish- 
ment consisted of a range of log buildings, enclosing 
three sides of a square, open towards the river, and 
contained the warehouse, canoe and boat yard, and 



GENERAL CASS AT SANDY LAKE. 323 

dwelling-house of the resident clerk. The company 
had also three horses, two oxen, three cows, and four 
bulls at this post. 

On the fifteenth of the month they arrived at 
Sandy Lake, and were received at the post of the 
American -Company, in the temporary absence of the 
trader Morrison, by two of his clerks. They occupied 
the establishment of the old North-west Company, 
which was built in 1794, and has been described in a 
previous chapter. On the appearance of the exploring 
party, in accordance with custom, the Sandy Lake 
Ojibways saluted them with a discharge of fire-arms 
loaded with balls. 

The population of the Indian village at that time was 
one hundred and twenty, and their principal men were 
Broken Arm and De Breche. 

On the sixteenth a council was held, and Governor 
Cass proposed that they should send a deputation of 
their best men to the mouth of the Minnesota, and con- 
clude a peace with the Dahkotahs, to which they cheer- 
fully consented. The next day the officers of the expe- 
dition, with nineteen voyageurs and Indians, and pro- 
visions for twelve days, left the post with a view to 
exploration of the Upper Mississippi. On the nine- 
teenth, the atmosphere in the region of Pokeguma 
Rapids was so cold that the canoes in the morning were 
coated with a scale of ice. On the twenty- first of 
July they reached Upper Red Cedar Lake, which they 
considered the true source of the Mississippi, and named 
Cass Lake. 

On the north shore of the lake was a village of sixty 
Ojibways, of whom Wiscoup, or the Sweet, was the 
chief. Here were found two employees of the Fur 



324 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Company, one of whom, during the previous winter, 
having been caught in a snow storm, had his feet frozen 
so badly that they had sloughed off. For a time his 
Indian wife felt an interest in his sad condition, and 
supported him by catching fish ; but at last he became 
a weariness to her, and she deserted. For months, as 
he was unable to walk, he had subsisted upon the coarse 
weeds about his hut. 

The expedition discovered him seated on a mat of 
rushes, in a cabin of bark, with the stumps of his legs 
wrapped in deer skins. With long beard, sunken eyes, 
hollow cheeks, and bones ready to protrude through 
the skin, he was more to be pitied than Job. In the 
words of the patriarch, his "flesh was clothed with 
worms and clods of dust; his skin was broken and 
loathsome ; by night he was full of tossings to and fro 
unto the dawning of the day." The sympathies of the 
whole party were aroused, and Governor Cass took 
means to make him comfortable, and have him trans- 
ported to the Fur Company's post at Sandy Lake. 

The next day they commenced the descent of the 
river, and returned to Sandy Lake on the afternoon of 
the twenty-fourth. On the twenty-fifth, with a delega- 
tion of Ojibways, they entered the canoes once more, 
and steered towards the fort at the mouth of the Min- 
nesota. The twenty-eighth was passed in hunting buf- 
falo, between Elk river and the Little Falls. Having 
spent several hours in hunting, they descended the 
river until three o'clock, when they landed again to 
hunt at the site of a recent Dahkotah encampment. In 
the centre of the deserted camp, on a long pole, was a 
letter of birch bark, addressed to the Ojibways, in which 
they were informed that a peace party, at the solicita- 



CASS AT FORT SNELLING.— RAPID VEGETATION. 325 

tion of the commander of the fort, had proceeded to 
that spot, but not finding any of their nation, had re- 
turned. 

On the afternoon of the thirtieth, they reached the 
garrison at " Camp Cold Water," near the present St. 
Louis House, near Fort Snelling, and Governor Cass 
was received with the customary national salute. They 
found here a busy scene : officers and their men were 
all occupied. In addition to building the fort, ninety 
acres of ground were under cultivation, and the soil 
proved very fertile. Green peas had been ready for 
the table on the fifteenth of June ; the corn was ripe on 
the fifteenth of July, and the wheat was now ripe for 
the harvest. 

On the first of August, at the winter barracks on the 
south side of the Minnesota, which were then being 
occupied by Taliaferro as an Indian agency, a council 
was held with the Dahkotahs and Ojibways. Go- 
vernor Cass, Colonel Leavenworth, and other officers 
represented the United States. Shokpay and other 
chiefs spoke for the Dahkotahs, and Babasikumsiba for 
the Ojibways. Though the Dahkotahs agreed to a ces- 
sation of hostilities against the Ojibways, they were 
very indifferent, and some of the chiefs and braves re- 
fused to smoke the pipe of peace. 

On the second of August, the party continued their 
descent of the Mississippi, and visited the cave near the 
upper limits of the city of Saint Paul, which they were 
erroneously told was "Carver's Cave." 1 Four miles be- 
low, at a point now called Pig's Eye, they found the 
village of Little Crow. "Here," says Schoolcraft, in 
lus narrative of the expedition, is a " Sioux (Dahkotah) 

1 Carver's cave, is in the lower suburb. 



326 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

band of twelve lodges, and consisting of about two hun- 
dred souls, who plant corn on the adjoining plain, and 
cultivate the cucumber and pumpkin. They sallied 
from their lodges on seeing us approach, and manifested 
the utmost satisfaction in our landing. Le Petit Cor- 
beau was among the first to greet us. He is a man be- 
low the common size, but brawny and well proportioned ; 
and although rising of fifty years of age, retains the 
looks and vigour of forty. There is a great deal of fire 
in his eyes, which are black and piercing. His nose is 
prominent and has the aquiline curve, his forehead fall- 
ing a little from the facial angle, and his whole counte- 
nance animated, and expressive of a shrewd mind. We 
were conducted into his cabin, which is spacious, being 
about sixty feet in length and thirty in width, built in 
a permanent manner of logs, and covered with bark. 
Being seated, he addressed Governor Cass in a speech 
of some length, in which he expressed his satisfaction 
in seeing him there, and said that in his extensive 
journey, he must have experienced a good many hard- 
ships and difficulties, and seen a great deal of the In- 
dian way of living. He said he was glad that the go- 
vernor had not, like many other officers and agents of 
the United States, who had lately visited those regions, 
passed by without calling. He acquiesced in the treaty 
which had lately been concluded with the Chippeways, 
and was happy that a stop had been put to the effusion 
of human blood. He then adverted to a recent attack 
of a party of Fox Indians upon some of their people 
towards the sources of the river Minnesota, in which 
nine men had been killed. He considered it a dastardly 
act, and said that if that little tribe should continue to 
haunt their territories in a hostile manner, they would 



SPELLING ARRIVES.— WANATA ARRESTED. 327 

at length drive him into anger, and compel him to do a 
thing he did not wish." 

The next day they arrived at the village of Rem- 
nichah. or Red Wing. Tatankimani, or the Walking 
Buffalo, one of the signers of the treaty of friendship at 
Portage des Sioux, in 1815, was the principal man, and 
about sixty years of age. One of his granddaughters 
married a Mr. Crawford, who was a prominent British 
trader during the Avar of 1812. 

On the afternoon of the fourth, they stopped a few 
minutes at Wapashaw village, the site of the town of 
Winona ; and on the evening of the fifth, their canoes 
grated on the pebbly banks of the village of Prairie du 
Chien. At this point Colonel Snelling was met on his 
way to relieve Lieutenan1>Colonel Leavenworth of the 
command of the troops at Camp Cold Water, opposite 
Mendota. His wife, a few days after her arrival at the 
post, gave birth to the first infant of white parents in 
Minnesota, which, after a brief existence of thirteen 
months, departed to a better land. The dilapidated 
monument which marks the remains of the " little one," 
is still visible in the grave-yard of the fort. Beside 
Mrs. Snelling, the wife of the Commissary, and of Cap- 
tain Gooding, were in the garrison, the first American 
ladies that ever wintered in Minnesota. 

Shortly after Colonel Snelling assumed command of 
the garrison, the Dahkotahs appeared unfriendly. A 
large body of warriors under the leadership of the cele- 
brated Yankton Wanata, hovered around the barracks 
for some time, and at last the chief presented himself 
at the gates, ostensibly desiring to have a friendly talk 
with the commander. The gates were opened, and suf- 
ficient information having been obtained to warrant the 



328 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

suspicion that they meditated an attack, he and his 
companions were seized, and marched to the council 
hall under a guard of glittering bayonets. In the 
council chamber his treachery was fully exposed, and 
he was deprived of his badges and medals which he had 
received from the British, and they were destroyed in 
his presence. In their mortification, the Indians with 
the chief gashed their flesh with knives. By this 
decided step, Wanata was impressed with the folly of 
opposing the United States troops, and from that time 
showed himself friendly to all American officers with 
whom he was brought in contact. 

Not far from this period two persons were shot by a 
party of Sissetoan Dahkotahs, near Council Bluffs, on the 
Missouri.* The United States authorities, to compel the 
surrender of the murderers, notified the Sissetoan bands, 
that no traders should visit them till the guilty ones 
were delivered. 

Deprived of blankets, powder, and tobacco, they held 
a council, at Big Stone Lake, to determine what should 
be done, and listened to the arguments of a trader named 
Colin Campbell. Mahzah Khotah, and another of the 
band, announced themselves as the guilty ones, and 
expressed a willingness to deliver themselves to the 
soldiers, at the mouth of the Minnesota. The aged 
father of the latter then offered himself as a substitute, 
which was agreeable to the council. The next day 
Mahzah Khotah, and the old man, started for the gar 
rison, accompanied by friends and relatives. 
- On the twelfth of November, 1820, when about a 
mile distant, the party halted, smoked, and the death 
dirge was chanted. Blackening their faces, and gashing 
their arms, as a token of grief, they formed a proces- 

* Appendix M 



A FATHER'S ATONEMENT FOR HIS SON. 



329 



sion, and marched to the centre of the soldier's parade 
ground. First came a Sissetoan, bearing a British flag, 
and then one of the murderers and the aged chief, who 
had become an atonement for his only son. Their arms 
were secured by ropes of buffalo hair, and large splinters 
of oak were thrust through the flesh, above the elbows, to 
indicate their contempt of death. As they approached, 
singing death-songs, a company of soldiers was drawn 
up, and Colonel Snelling came out to meet them. A fire 
was then kindled, and the British flag burned, after 
which the medal of the murderer was given up, and 
then both surrendered themselves. The old chief was 
detained as a hostage, and the murderer sent to St. 
Louis, for trial. 1 Placed in a boat, he was rowed by 



1 The following letter addressed 
to the secretary of war, contains 
most of the facts narrated. 

"Cantonment St. Peter's, 
November 13, 1820. 

" Sir — when I had the honour to 
address you on the tenth, from the 
disposition then manifested by the 
Sussitongs, I had no hope of obtain- 
ing the surrender of the murderers 
of our people on the Missouri, but 
contrary to my expectation, one of 
the murderers, and an old chief self- 
devoted in the place of his son, were 
voluntarily brought in and delivered 
up yesterday. 

" The ceremony of delivery was 
conducted with much solemnity. A 
procession was formed at some dis- 
tance from the garrison, and marched 
to the centre of our parade. It was 
preceded by a Sussitong bearing the 
British flag ; the murderer and de- 
voted chief followed with their arms 



pinioned, and large splinters of wood 
thrust through them above the el- 
bows, to indicate as I understood their 
contempt of pain and death. The 
relatives and friends followed, and 
on their way joined them in singing 
their death-song. When they ar- 
rived in front of the guard the 
British flag was laid on a fire, pre- 
pared for the occasion, and consumed ; 
the murderer gave up his medal, and 
both the prisoners were surrendered. 
The old chief I have detained as a 
hostage, the murderer I have sent to 
St. Lewis, under a proper guard, for 
trial, presuming it is a course you 
will approve. 

" I am much indebted to Mr. Colin 
Campbell, the interpreter, for his 
great exertions in bringing this affair 
to a speedy issue. The delivery of 
the murderer is to be solely attri- 
buted to his influence over the Sussi 
tongs." 



330 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



poldiers to the place of destination, but no witness 
appearing against him, he was discharged, and while 
returning, is said to have been killed by a frontiersman, 
in Missouri. 

In 1822 a man by the name of Perkins, of Kentucky, 
obtained permission of Taliaferro, the agent for the Dah- 
kotahs, to build a saw-mill in the Chippeway valley. 
His partners were Lockwood and Rolette, of Prairie du 
Chien. For the privilege of cutting timber they agreed 
to pay Wapashaw's band, who claimed the country, one 
thousand dollars annually, in goods. The spot selected 
for the mill, was on a small stream running into the 
Menomonee, about twenty miles from its mouth. 

After the coalition of the two great British Fur Com- 
panies, some of those who had been in their service, 
Renville, Jeffries, McKenzie, and others, in company 
with a few American traders, formed a new company 
called the Columbia, whose central establishment was 
at Lake Traverse. They were licensed by the proper 
authorities, to trade with the Indians south of the British 
boundary line. The only rival in the trade, was the 
American Fur Company. 1 They also had a trading-post 
on the Minnesota, about a mile above Fort Snelling. 

1 One of their number furnished of furs formerly obtained in this 
to the historian of Long's expedition, region, 
the following statement of the amount 



Names. No. of packs. 

Beaver 10 . 

Bear, 20 . 

-Buffalo, .... 400 . 

Martin, .... 10 . 

Otter 10 . 

Fisher 25 . 

Elk, 40 . 



No. of skins, or wt. 
of each pack. 

100 lbs. weight 
12 skins 
10 skins . 

100 lbs. . . 
100 lbs. . . 



16 skins 



Value of pack. 

$400 . 

75 . 

40 . 
300 . 
600 . 
450 . 

80 . 



Total. 
$4000 

1500 
16,000 

3000 

6000 
11,250 

3200 



FIRST MILL IN MINNESOTA. 



331 



It was during this year, the fort being sufficiently 
completed for occupancy, that the first mill in Minnesota 
was erected. It was built under the supervision of 
officers of the fort, on the site of Minneapolis, and was 
guarded by a sergeant and a few privates. 

Joseph R. Brown, who afterwards was a noted 
citizen, at this time a soldier in the army, in company 
with a son of Colonel Snelling. and one or two others, 
explored the rivulet that supplies the cascade of Minne 
Ha-Ha, as far as Lake Minne Tonka. 

The settlers at the Selkirk colony were, as has been 
seen, reduced to great straits. Owing to their fratricidal 
strife agriculture had been neglected, and at one time 
they were forced to live upon salt and lettuce. 

Among others at Pembina was a trader by the name 
of Hess, who, finding provisions scarce, determined to 
go and join a party who had gone out on a buffalo hunt. 
He commenced his journey with two daughters and two 
other settlers. As he had married an Ojibway woman, 
he travelled through the Dahkotah country with the 
greatest precaution, knowing the hereditary feud that 
existed between the nation of his mother's children and 



Name. 


No. of packs. 


No. of skins. 








Value of pack. 


Total. 


Mynx, . . . 
Muskrat, . . , 


, . 10 . 




$2000 
8000 


. 40 . 




. 500 skins 








200 . 


Lynx, . . . 


. 20 . 










. 280 . 


. 5600 


Swan, . . . 


. 2 . 


i 60 skins 








60 . 


. 120 


Rabbit, . . . 
Wolverine, 


. 4 . 
. 1 . 


. 400 skins 
. 400 skins 








8 . 


32 
75 


Cowskins, . . 


. 20 . 


16 skins 








80 . 


1600 


Wolves, . . , 


. 10 . 










40 . 


400 


Moose, . . • 


. . 10 . 










80 . 
260 . 


800 


Fox, .... 


. 5 








1300 



637 



$64,877 



332 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the Dahkotahs. On the sixth day of the journey he 
left his companions to chase some buffaloes that were in 
sight. He did not return for some time, but after a 
long ride across the prairie he saw the primitive cart in 
which his family had travelled, and hoped to find them 
and recount his success in the hunt. On his approach 
he found one of his companions scalped, and deprived 
of both his feet. A few steps beyond, lay one of his 
beloved daughters with a knife lodged in her heart. He 
then discovered the lifeless form of his other fellow- 
traveller, but could not find his second daughter. 

Horrified and helpless he returned to Pembina, after 
travelling three days and three nights on foot, without 
a morsel of food. Reciting his melancholy story, the 
settlers were seized with a panic, and not one would 
accompany him to the scene of slaughter and bury the 
dead. 

Obtaining an intimation that one daughter yet lived, 
a captive in a Yankton lodge, with the energy of despair 
he started for the camp, determined to rescue her or to 
die in the attempt. After a long tramp he descried the 
cone-shaped teepee, and before he reached the spot a 
Yankton accosted him and asked whether he was a 
friend or foe. Hess, nerved to the highest physical 
courage, said, " You know me as your foe ; you know 
me by the name of Standing Bull ; you know you have 
killed one of my daughters and taken the other prisoner." 
The Dahkotah was impressed by his fearlessness, and 
extended his hand, and, taking him to the camp, all 
complimented him. Finding his daughter, he was 
cheered to learn that she had been treated with kind- 
ness. Her owner was at first unwilling to release her, 
but at last consented for a certain ransom. 



HESS'S DAUGHTER RANSOMED. 



333 



Seeking the neighbouring trading posts of the Columbia 
Fur Company, the traders sympathized with him, and 
furnished him the necessary amount of goods on a long 
credit, and bearing the merchandise to the camp, the 
Dahkotah, true to his word, delivered the daughter ; but 
now the maiden had become attached to those with 
whom she had been dwelling, and reluctantly left their 
lodges. 

On the appearance of spring in the year 1823, a num- 
ber of emigrants who had been induced by the prospec- 
tus of the Earl of Selkirk's agent to leave their mountain 
homes in Switzerland, and settle in the valley of the 
Red river, determined to seek the United States. After 
a long journey from Pembina, by way of Lake Traverse, 
they reached what is now Fort Snelling, in a state of 
great destitution, and were there aided by the officers 
of the garrison. 1 



1 " In 1823, news was brought by 
the traders that two white children 
were with a party of Sioux on the St. 
Peter's. It appeared from what 
they could learn, that a family from 
Red river — Selkirk's settlement — 
had been on their way to the fort, 
when a war party of Sioux met them, 
murdered the parents and an infant, 
and made the boys prisoners. Col. 
Snelling sent an officer with a party 
of soldiers to rescue the children. 
After some delay in the ransom, 
they were finally brought. An old 
squaw, who had the youngest, was 
very unwilling to give him up, and 
indeed the child did not wish to leave 
her. The oldest, about eight years 
old, said his name was John Tully, 
and his brother, five years old, Abra- 



ham. His mother had an infant, 
but he saw the Indians dash its 
brains out against a tree, then killed 
his father and mother. Because he 
cried they took him by his hair, and 
cut a small piece from his head, 
which was a running sore when he 
was retaken. Col. Snelling took 
John into his family, Major Clark 
the other, but he was afterwards 
sent to an orphan asylum in New 
York. The eldest died of lockjaw, 
occasioned by a cut in the ankle 
while using an axe. His death-bed 
conversion was affecting and remark- 
able. One day, after he had been ill 
several weeks, he said, ' Mrs. Snel- 
ling, I have been a very wicked boy ; 
I once tried to poison my father be- 
cause he said he would whip me. I 



334 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



It was during this year that it was demonstrated that 
it was practicable to navigate the Mississippi from St. 
Louis to the junction of the Minnesota river. Pre- 
viously it had been supposed that the rapids at Rock 
Island would prove an insurmountable barrier. On 
the second of May, according to a printed announce- 
ment, the Virginia, a steamer one hundred and eighteen 
feet in length and twenty-two in width, drawing six 
feet of water, left her moorings at the St. Louis levee 
destined for Fort Snelling. 

Among the passengers were Major Taliaferro, the 
agent of the Dahkotahs; Beltrami, an Italian Count, 
once a judge of the Royal Court, then a political refu- 
gee j 1 Great Eagle, a Sauk chief, returning to his 



stole a ring from you which you 
valued much, and sold it to a soldier, 
and then I told you a lie about it. I 
have given you a great deal of 
trouble. I have been very wicked. 
I am going to die the day after to- 
morrow, and don't know where I 
shall go. Oh, pray for me.' 

" His benefactress answered, 'John, 
God will forgive you, if you repent ; 
but you must pray too, for yourself. 
God is more willing to hear than we 
are to pray. Christ died to save just 
such a sinner as you are, and you 
must call upon that Saviour to save 
you/ All his sins appeared to rise 
before him as he confessed them, and 
he seemed to feel that he was too 
great a sinner to hope for pardon. 
Mrs. Snelling read to him, and in- 
structed him. He never had re- 
ceived any religious instruction, ex- 
cept in the Sunday school taught by 
Mrs. Clark and herself, and being 
accustomed to say his prayers with 



her children, and always be present 
when she read the church service on 
Sundays. The next morning after 
the above conversation, when she 
asked him how he had rested during 
the night, he said, 'I prayed very 
often in the night ; I shall die to* 
morrow, and I know not what shall 
become of me.' For several hours 
he remained tranquil, with his eyes 
closed, but would answer whenever 
spoken to ; then suddenly he ex- 
claimed, 'Glory! glory!' His friend 
said, 'John, what do you mean by 
that word ?' ' Oh ! Mrs. Snelling, I 
feel so good — I feel so good ! Oh ! 
I cannot tell you how good I feel.' " 
— Mrs. Snelling's Reminiscences in 
" Pioneer Women of the West." 

1 " An Italian gentleman came on 
the boat, who professed to be travel- 
ling for the purpose of writing 
a book, and brought letters of 
introduction from Mrs. Snelling's 
friends in St. Louis. The colonel 



FIRST STEAMBOAT ON UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 



335 



village from a conference with Governor Clark ; and a 
family from Kentucky, with their children, guns, chests, 
cats, dogs, and chickens, emigrating to Galena, which 
was then the extreme frontier. At Dubuque, the In- 
dians held possession of their mines, and watched all 
who visited them with a jealous eye. 

After the steamer had passed the mouth of the Upper 
Iowa, a grand illumination greeted the appearance of 
the " great fire canoe," as it glided along the confines 
of Minnesota. An eye-witness writes: "It was per- 
fectly dark, and we were at the mouth of the river 
Ioway, when we saw at a great distance all the com- 
bined images of the infernal regions in full perfection. 
I was on the point of exclaiming with Michael Angelo, 
6 How terrible ! but yet how beautiful !' 



invited him to his house to remain 
as long as he pleased, and he was 
with them several months. He 
could not speak English, but spoke 
French fluently, and seemed much 
pleased when he found his fair 
hostess could speak the language, 
she having learned it when a child at 
St. Louis. A French school was 
the first she ever attended, and she 
thus early acquired a perfectly cor- 
rect pronunciation. She lamented 
on one oceasion to Mr. Beltrami, 
that her teacher had received his 
discharge, and was about leaving, 
and he politely offered his services 
in that capacity. She was then 
translating the life of Caesar in an 
abridged form, and from the emotion 
betrayed by the foreigner at a por- 
tion of the reading, it was concluded 
he had been banished from the 
Pope's dominions at Rome, and that 
the lesson reminded him of his mis- 



fortunes. The passport he showed, 
gave him the title of ' Le Chevalier 
Count Beltrami/ 

"When at the fort he was busy in 
collecting Indian curiosities. One 
day he brought a Sioux chief into 
Mrs. Snelling's room, who had on 
his neck a necklace of bears' claws 
highly polished, saying, ' I cannot 
tempt this chief to part with his 
necklace ; pray see what you can do 
with him, he will not refuse you.' 
' He wears it/ answered the lady, 
as a trophy of his prowess, and a 
badge of honour ; however, I will 
try/ After some time, Wanata said, 
' On one condition I will consent : if 
you will cut off your hair, braid it, 
and let it take the place of mine, you 
may have the necklace/ All laugh- 
ed heartily at the contrivance to gel 
rid of further importunity." — Mrs. 
Snelling's Reminiscences in " Pio- 
neer Women of the West." 



336 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

"The venerable trees of these eternal forests were 
on fire, which had communicated to the grass and 
brushwood, and these had been borne by a violent north- 
west wind to the adjacent plains and valleys. The 
flames towering above the tops of the hills where the 
wind raged with most violence, gave them the appear- 
ance of volcanoes at the moment of their most terrific 
eruptions ; and the fire, winding in its descent through 
places covered with grass, exhibited an exact resem- 
blance to the undulating lava of Etna or Vesuvius. 
Almost all night we travelled by the light of this su- 
perb torch." 

The arrival of the Virginia at Mendota, is an era in 
the history of the Dahkotah nation, and will probably 
be transmitted to their posterity as long as they exist 
as a people. They say that some of their sacred men, 
the night before, dreamed of seeing some monster of 
the waters, which frightened them very much. 

As the boat neared the shore, men, women, and 
children beheld with silent astonishment, supposing 
that it was some enormous water spirit coughing, puff- 
ing out hot breath, and splashing water in every direc- 
tion. When it touched the landing their fears prevailed, 
and they retreated some distance, but when the blowing 
off of steam commenced they were completely unnerved : 
mothers forgetting their children, with streaming hair, 
sought hiding-places ; chiefs, renouncing their stoicism, 
scampered away like affrighted animals. 

The peace agreement between the Ojibways and 
Dahkotahs, made through the influence of Governor 
Cass, was of brief duration, the latter being the first to 
violate the provisions. 



TALIAFERRO, UNITED STATES AGENT FOR DAHKOTAHS. 337 

On the fourth of June, Taliaferro, 1 the Indian agent 
among the Dahkotahs, took advantage of the presence 
of a large number of Ojibways to renew the agreement 
for the cessation of hostilities. The council hall of the 
agent was a large room of logs, in which waved con- 
spicuously the flag of the United States, surrounded by 



1 Mr. Taliaferro was the first Indian 
asent in Minnesota, and what is re- 
markable, he held the office for 
twenty-one years. Having left the 
country in 1840, he visited it in 1856, 
and contributed the annexed reminis- 
cences to the Pioneer and Democrat 
newspaper, published at St. Paul : — 

"It may not be deemed out of place 
at this period in the rapid and un- 
precedented growth of cities, towns, 
hamlets, and population in Minne- 
sota, to refer to, and present date in 
reference to some of the historical 
reminiscences of the past. 

" There were two expeditions or- 
ganized — that for the ' Yellow Stone,' 
in 1818, under Colonel Atkinson, 
and the second in 1819, under Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Leavenworth, of the 
Fifth Infantry, to the Falls of St. 
Anthony, which latter expedition 
cantoned at the entry of the river St. 
Peter's, and their first monthly report 
was dated September thirtieth, 1819. 
The object of these military move- 
ments during the administration of 
President Monroe, was to open the 
country to the fur trade, and extend 
protection to our hitherto defenceless 
frontiers, north and west. Your hum- 
ble writer was selected by the presi- 
dent from the army, on the twenty- 
seventh of March, 1819, and appoint- 
ed the pioneer Agent for Indian Af- 
22 



fairs for the North-west, and estab- 
lished his agency near the Minnesota, , 
and continued his arduous, delicate, 
and responsible duties under several 
successive administrations of the Ge- 
neral Government, down to the year 
1840, when — though appointed for 
the sixth term — he declined longer ser- 
vice, from a rapid decline in health. 
" In the summer of the year 1820, 
Colonel Snellingrelieved Lieutenant- 
Colonel Leavenworth from the com- 
mand of what was then called ' Fort 
St. Anthony,' though not a stone 
had been set for the permanent work. 
This was left for the action of the 
gallant Snelling, who, as acting As- 
sistant Quartermaster, set all hands 
at work, and laid the corner stone of 
Fort Snelling on the tenth day of 
September, 1820, with due ceremo- 
nies, in presence of the civil and 
military officers of the post and 
several citizens. It is known that 
in 1805, Pike procured from the 
Sioux (the chief, 'Little Crow' 
being present) a cession of nine by 
eighteen miles, wintered his men 
below the Sauk Rapids, and returned 
to St. Louis in the spring of 1806. 
In excavating the foundation of the 
circular battery in rear of the com- 
manding officer's quarters, at the 
foot of a small oak tree, a workman 
found a black bottle, and upon being 



338 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



British colouis and medals that had been delivered up 
from time to time by Indian chiefs. 

Among the Dahkotah chiefs present were Wapashaw, 
Little Crow, and Penneshaw ; of the Ojibways there 
were Kendouswa, Moshomene, and Pasheskonoepe. 
After mutual accusations and excuses concerning the 



placed in the hands of Colonel 
Snelling it was found to contain a 
'synopsis of the grant made to the 
United States by the Indians. 

"To recount all those thrilling inci- 
dents, which occurred in the course 
of the first twenty-one years on this 
then remote frontier, would fill a vol- 
ume from our seventeen manuscript 
journals, in the hands of a ready wri- 
ter. We would remark upon the ever 
memorable days the twenty-seventh 
and twenty-eighth of May, 1827, 
when the Sioux, shortly after night- 
fall, fired into the lodges of a party 
of Chippewas encamped below, and 
in front of the Agency, killing and 
wounding some eight or nine — and 
for this unprovoked attack we caused 
the offenders to be forthwith given 
up for this outrage, and insult to our 
flag and neutrality — and four Sioux 
were shot, within two hundred paces 
from the spot on which we now pen 
this sketch of facts. 

" We thought nothing of taking a 
crew of brave Medawakantons, with 
Mr. Alexander Farribault as a com- 
panion, and passing down to Du- 
buque, and rescuing a Yankton Sioux 
prisoner the Sacs and Foxes had 
captured in 1823, — performing this 
act of humanity in a few days ; evad- 
ing the vigilance of a party of the 
Sac brakes despatched to intercept 



and cut us off. It was a dangerous 
effort, but we determined to risk our 
lives to save that of a human being, 
and we landed safely at St. Peter's, 
and in due season, despatched her 
off safely to her friends and family 
on the Des Moines. 

" Some are curious to learn how 
certain locations received designated 
names. Minnehaha was first indi- 
cated as the Little Falls, then as 
Brown's Falls, in honour of Major 
General Brown. Lake Calhoun for 
the distinguished Secretary at the 
head of the War Department, and 
other smaller lakes, Harriet, Eliza, 
Abigail, Lucy, &c, after the ladies 
of the civil and military officers of 
the post. 

" The first measured distance from 
Fort Snelling to Fort Crawford 
(Prairie du Chien), was measured in 
February, 1822, by Quartermaster 
Sergeant Heckle, with a perambula- 
tor on a wheel, which reported the 
distance by a sharp crackling every 
few hundred yards ; it was invented 
by this good old German soldier. 
The distance was 204 miles. 

" Could we write without the use 
of the personal pronoun, a more con- 
nected history of former years might 
be noted; but in conclusion, it is due 
the Sioux of your territory to record 
one fact as to them, and that is, from 



"FLAT MOUTH" AT FOR^T SNELLING. 339 

infraction of the previous treaty, the Dahkotahs lighted 
the calumet, they having been the first to infringe upon 
the agreement of 1820. After smoking, and passing the 
pipe of peace to the Ojibways, who passed through the 
same formalities, they all shook hands as a pledge of 
renewed amity. 

The morning after the council, Flat Mouth, the dis- 
tinguished Ojibway chief, arrived, who had left his lodge 
vowing that he would never be at peace with the Dah- 
kotahs. As he stepped from his canoe, Penneshaw held 
out his hand, but was repulsed with scorn. The Dah- 
kotah warrior immediately gave the alarm, and in a 
moment runners were on their way to the neighbour- 
ing villages to raise a war party. 

On the sixth of June, the Dahkotahs had assembled, 
stripped for a fight, and surrounded the Ojibways. The 
latter, expecting the worst, concealed their women and 
children behind the old barracks which had been used 
by the troops while the fort was being erected. At the 
solicitation of the agent and commander of the fort, the 
Dahkotahs desisted from an attack and retired. 

On the seventh, the Ojibways left for their homes ; 
but, in a few hours, while they were making a portage 
at St. Anthony, they were again approached by the 

the commencement of our agency to twenty-fourth of June, the ■ widow's 

its close, our frontier pioneers were son' was Irving's Rip Van Winkle ; 

never even molested in their homes, after a nap of fifteen years, we awoke 

nor did they shed one drop of Araer- in the midst of fast times. We 

ican blood; while the Chippewas, truly felt bewildered when we found 

Winnebagoes, and Sacs and Foxes, all the haunts and resting-places of 

were in the yearly habit of the most the once noble sons of the forest, 

revolting and foul murders on all covered by cities, towns, and hamlets, 

who unfortunately fell in their war We asked but few questions, being 

path. to our mind received as a strange 

•'We were in St. Paul on the animal, if nothing worse." 



340 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Dahkotahs, who would have attacked them, if a detach- 
ment of troops had not arrived from the fort. 

A rumour reaching Penneshaw's village that he had 
been killed at the falls, his mother seized an Ojibway 
maiden, who had been a captive from infancy, and, with 
a tomahawk, cut her in two. Upon the return of the 
son in safety he was much gratified at what he con- 
sidered the prowess of his parent. 



LONG'S EXPLORATION OF MINNESOTA RIVER. 341 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The interesting information procured by the expedi- 
tion of Lewis and Clarke to the tributaries of the Mis- 
souri and Rocky Mountains, and that of Governor Cass 
through the north-eastern district of Minnesota, induced 
the United States government to send an expedition to 
explore the Minnesota river, and the country situated 
on the northern boundary of the United States between 
the Red river of Hudson's Bay, and Lake Superior. 

The command of the expedition was intrusted to 
Major Stephen H. Long, and the scientific corps attached 
were Thomas Say, zoologist and antiquary, William 
H. Keating, mineralogist and geologist, Samuel Sey- 
mour, landscape painter and designer. Late at night, 
on the second of July, 1823, they arrived at Mendota 
opposite the fort, and slept in the open air. 

On the morning of the third, Colonel Snelling and 
the five companies of the 5th Infantry, within the fort, 
were much surprised by the appearance of the exploring 
party ; and, on the afternoon of the ninth of July, they 
commenced the exploration of the valley of the Min- 
nesota. 

Joseph Renville, a bois brule, after whom one of the 
counties of the state is named, acted as interpreter and 



."542 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

guide ; and Joseph* a son of Colonel Snelling, was 
assistant interpreter, and Beltrami, the Italian refugee, 
was permitted to accompany the party. To make the 
examination as accurate as possible, a portion proceeded 
by land, and a portion in canoes. On the first evening 
the river detachment encamped near Oanoska, the vil- 
lage known as Black Dog's. The next morning they 
breakfasted at Penneshaw's. At dinner time they were 
at Shokpay, called by the French Prairie des Franc, ais ; 
this, as well as the other villages, was tenantless, the 
inhabitants being absent on a hunt. 

On the fourteenth, at Traverse des Sioux, the land 
and river detachments met, and after a reduction of the 
number of soldiers they united and proceeded by land, 
having in possession twenty-one horses. They travelled 
on the south side of the Minnesota, and at the mouth 
of the Mahkahto passed the residence of the Sissetoan 
band, one of whose number, in 1820, had been sent to 
St. Louis to be tried for murdering a white man. 

On the twenty-second they arrived at Big Stone Lake, 
which is considered the source of the Minnesota. Fol- 
lowing up the bed of a dried-up stream, they found 
Lake Traverse, three miles distant. Here they were 
impressed by beholding within sight the sources of two 
vast streams, the one discharging its waters in Hudson's 
Bay, the other in the Gulf of Mexico. At Big Stone 
Lake, for the first time since leaving the fort, they dis- 
covered a large party of Dahkotahs, and, by invitation, 
the expedition visited their lodges at the lower end of 
the lake. Upon an island in the lake this band culti- 
vated corn. After being feasted, the party proceeded in 
the afternoon to a trading post of the American Fur 
Company, in charge of Mr. Mooers, where presents of 

* Appendix N 



WAHNAHTAH'S APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER. 343 

tobacco were distributed. The traders of the Columbia 
Fur Company, at Lake Traverse, received the party 
with a salute, and exhibited the most hospitable dis- 
position. Keating, the historian of the expedition, 
remarks : — 

" The principal interest which we experienced in the 
neighbourhood of Lake Travers, was from an acquaint- 
ance with Wanotan, 1 the most distinguished chief of the 
Yanktoanan tribe, which, as we were informed, is sub- 
divided into six bands. He is one of the greatest men 
of the Dahkotah nation, and although but twenty-eight 
years of age, he has already acquired great renown as 
a warrior. At the early age of eighteen, he exhibited 
much valour in the war against the Americans, and 
was wounded several times. He was then inexperi- 
enced and served under his father, who was chief of his 
tribe, and bore a mortal enmity to the Americans. 
Wanotan has since learned to form a better estimate of 
our nation. He is aware that it is the interest of his 
people to remain at peace with us, and would, probably, 
in case of another war between the United States and 
England, take part with the former. Those who know 
him well, commend his sagacity and judgment, as well 
as his valour. He is a tall man, being upwards of six 
feet high ; his countenance would be esteemed hand- 
some in any country; his features being regular and 
well shaped. There is an intelligence that beams 
through his eye, which is not the usual concomitant of 
Indian features. His manners are dignified and re- 
served ; his attitudes are graceful and easy, though they 
appear to be somewhat studied. When speaking of the 

1 This chief 8 name is spelled Wahnahtah, Wanata, Wanotan. 



344 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Dahkotahs, we purposely postponed mentioning the fre- 
quent vows which they make, and their strict adherence 
to them, because, one of the best evidences which we 
have collected on this point, connects itself with the 
character of Wanotan, and may give a favourable idea 
of his extreme fortitude in enduring pain. In the sum- 
mer of 1822, he undertook a journey, from which, ap- 
prehending much danger on the part of the Chippewas, 
he made a vow to the Sun, that, if he returned safe, he 
would abstain from all food or drink, for the space of 
four successive days and nights, and that he would dis- 
tribute among his people all the property which he pos- 
sessed, including all his lodges, horses, dogs, etc. On his 
return, which happened without accident, he celebrated 
the dance of the Sun; this consisted in making three 
cuts through his skin, one on his breast, and one on 
each of his arms. The skin was cut in the manner of 
a loop, so as to permit a rope to pass under the strip of 
skin and flesh which was thus divided from the body. 
The ropes being passed through, their ends were secured 
to a tall vertical pole, planted at about forty yards from 
his lodge. He then began to dance round this pole, at 
the commencement of his fast, frequently swinging him- 
self in the air, so as to be supported merely by the cords 
which were secured to the strips of skin cut off from 
his arms and breast. He continued this exercise with 
few intermissions, during the whole of his fast, until the 
fourth day about ten o'clock, A. M., when the strip of 
skin from his breast gave way. Notwithstanding which, 
he interrupted not his dance, although supported merely 
by his arms. At noon the strip from his left arm 
snapped off. His uncle then thought that he had suf- 
fered enough ; he drew his knife and cut orT the skin 



WAHNAHTAH'S SUN DANCE. d45 

from his right arm, upon which Wanotan fell to the 
ground and swooned. The heat at the time was ex- 
treme. He was left exposed in that state to the sun 
until night, when his friends brought him some pro- 
visions. After the ceremony was over, he distributed 
to them the whole of his property, among which were 
five fine horses, and he and his two squaws left his 
lodge, abandoning every article of their furniture. 

" As we appeared upon the brow of the hill which 
commands the company's fort, a salute was fired from a 
number of Indian tents which were pitched in the vi- 
cinity, from the largest of which the American colours 
were flying. And as soon as we had dismounted from 
our horses, we received an invitation to a feast which 
Wanotan had prepared for us. The gentlemen of the 
company informed us that as soon as the Indians had 
heard of our contemplated visit, they had commenced 
their preparations for a festival, and that they had killed 
three of their dogs. We repaired to a sort of pavilion 
which they had erected by the union of several large 
skin lodges. Fine buffalo robes were spread all around, 
and the air was perfumed by the odour of sweet scent- 
ing grass which had been burned in it. On entering 
the lodge we saw the chief seated near the further end 
of it, and one of his principal men pointed out to us the 
place which was destined for our accommodation : it 
was at the upper end of the lodge ; the Indians who 
were in it taking no further notice of us. These con- 
sisted of the chief, his son, a lad about eight years old, 
and eight or ten of the principal warriors. The chief's 
dress presented a mixture of the European and abori- 
ginal costume ; he wore moccasins and leggings of splen- 
did scarlet cloth, a blue breech-cloth, a fine shirt of 



346 HTSTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

printed muslin, over this a frock coat of fine blue cloth 
with scarlet facings, somewhat similar to the undress 
uniform coat of a Prussian officer ; this was buttoned and 
secured round his waist by a belt. Upon his head he 
wore a blue cloth cap, made like a German fatigue cap. 
A very handsome Mackinaw blanket, slightly orna- 
mented with paint, was thrown over his person. His son, 
whose features strongly favoured those of his father, wore 
a dress somewhat similar, except that his coat was party- 
coloured, one half being made of blue, and the other 
half of scarlet cloth. He w r ore a round hat, with a 
plated silver band, and a large cockade. From his 
neck were suspended several silver medals, doubtless 
presents to his father. This lad appeared to be a great 
favourite of Wanotan's, who seems to indulge him more 
than is customary for the Indians to do. As soon as 
we had taken our seats, the chief passed his pipe round, 
and while we were engaged in smoking, two of the In- 
dians arose and uncovered the large kettles which were 
standing over the fire, they emptied their contents into 
a dozen of wooden dishes which were placed all round 
the lodge. These consisted of buffalo meat boiled with 
tepsin, also the same vegetable boiled without the meat, 
in buffalo grease, and finally, the much esteemed dog 
meat, all which were dressed without salt. In compli- 
ance with the established usage of travellers to taste 
of everything, we all partook of the latter with a mixed 
feeling of curiosity and reluctance. Could we have 
divested ourselves entirely of the prejudices of educa- 
tion, we should doubtless have unhesitatingly acknow- 
ledged this to be among the best meat that we had ever 
eaten. It was remarkably fat, was sweet and palatable. 
It had none of that dry, stringy character, which we 



MAJOR LONG RELISHES DOG MEAT. 347 

had expected to find in it, and it was entirely destitute 
of the strong taste which we had apprehended that it 
possessed. It was not an unusual appetite, or the want 
of good meat to compare with it, which led us to form 
this favourable opinion of the dog, for we had, on the 
same dish, the best meat which our prairies afford ; but 
so strongly rooted are the prejudices of education, that, 
though we all unaffectedly admitted the excellence of 
this food, yet few of us could be induced to eat much 
of it. We were warned by our trading friends that the 
bones of this animal are treated with great respect by 
the Dahkotahs ; we therefore took great care to replace 
them in the dishes; and we are informed that, after 
such a feast is concluded, the bones are carefully col- 
lected, the flesh scraped off from them, and that, after 
being washed, they are buried in the ground, partly, as 
it is said, to testify to the dog species, that in feasting 
upon one of their number, no disrespect was meant to 
the species itself; and partly also from a belief that the 
bones of the animal will rise and reproduce another 
one. The meat of this animal, as we saw it, was 
thought to resemble that of the finest Welsh mutton, 
except that it was of a much darker colour. Having 
so far overcome our repugnance as to taste of it, we no 
longer wonder that the dog should be considered a 
dainty dish by those in whom education has not created 
a prejudice against this flesh. In China it is said that 
fattened pups are frequently sold in the market place ; 
and it appears that the invitation to a feast of dog meat 
is the greatest distinction that can be offered to a 
stranger by any of the Indian nations east of the Rocky 
Mountains." 

On the morning of the fifth of August, the expedi- 



348 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

tion arrived at Pembina, a corruption of Anepeminan, 
an Ojibway word, 1 and were kindly received by Mr. 
Nolen. This had been the upper settlement of the 
Selkirk colony, and the Hudson Bay Company had 
maintained a post here until a few months before the 
visit of Major Long. Observations made by their own 
astronomers, led to the supposition that it was within 
the American boundary line. At the time of the ex- 
ploration, there were about three hundred and fifty half- 
breeds residing in fifty or sixty log huts. 

The next day after the arrival of the expedition, the 
buffalo hunters returned from the chase. " The proces- 
sion consisted of one hundred and fifteen carts, each 
loaded with about eight hundred pounds of the finest 
buffalo meat ; there were three hundred persons includ- 
ing the women." The number of horses was about two 
hundred. Twenty hunters mounted on their best steeds 
rode in abreast, firing a salute as they passed the Ame- 
rican camp. 

Major Long and his party remained several days, de- 
termining the boundary line of the United States. " A 
flag-staff was planted, which after a series of observations, 
made during four days, was determined to be in latitude 
48° 59' 57i", north. The distance to the boundary line 
was measured off, and an oak post fixed on it, bearing 
on the north side the letters G. B., and on the south side 
those of U. S." 

On the eighth of August the United States flag was 
hoisted on the staff, a national salute fired, and a pro- 
clamation made in the presence of all the inhabitants, 
that all the country on the Red river, above that point, 

1 Pronounced as if written Pembin- known to botanists as Viburnim 
naw. Anepeminan, is a red berry, oxycoccos. 



JOHN TANNER SHOT. 349 

was within the territory of the United States. As far 
as practicable the expedition commenced their return, 
along the northern boundary line of what is now Min- 
nesota. At Eainy Lake they found John Tanner, of 
whom mention has been made in another chapter, and the 
father of that erratic bois brule James Tanner, so well 
known to the older residents of Minnesota, severely 
wounded, and in a tent attended by two half-breed 
daughters. An Indian had shot him, and the ball had 
passed through the right arm and breast. At his re- 
quest he was transferred to the camp of the expedition. 
The evening preceding the departure from Eainy Lake, 
his daughters went over to the Hudson Bay trading- 
post, to visit an old half-breed woman ; but they never 
returned. All efforts to find them were unavailing, and 
the father, who was taking them to Mackinaw, to attend 
a mission school, seemed much distressed. After travel- 
ling a few miles with the party, the pain from his wounds 
was so great, that it was necessary to leave him in the 
care of one of the employees of the trading-post. It is 
a little remarkable that Tanner should also have disap- 
peared as mysteriously as his daughters. 1 

At Pembina, Joseph Snelling left the expedition and 
returned to the fort, his services as interpreter not being 
needed beyond that point. 

Beltrami, the Italian, who had become obnoxious, 
also detached himself, and conceived the bold project 
of striking for the most northern point of the Mississippi 
river. With a " bois brule," a mule, dog train, and two 

1 It is said that, on the day Mr. and Tanner disappeared. If rightly 

Schoolcraft's brother was found informed, he had not long before 

killed at Sault St. Marie, the log threatened Mr. Schoolcraft, 
cabin of Tanner was burned down, 



350 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Ojibways who were going to Red Lake to raise a war 
party to avenge the death of a companion who had been 
murdered by the Dahkotahs, he commenced his adven- 
turous journey. 

On the fifth day they arrived at Thief river, so called, 
it is said, from a Dahkotah who for years lurked in the 
marshes, robbing and scalping his foes as they would 
pass alone. At this point the half-breed returned with 
the mule and train to Pembina ; and the Italian, finding 
no trading post here as anticipated, was obliged to pro- 
ceed with the two Ojibways. 

There is much egotism and gasconade in the writings 
of Beltrami, but it cannot be denied that the Italian 
was the first to make known to the world the most 
northern source of the Mississippi, and the region around 
Red Lake. 

As the work written by this foreigner is little known, 
and not accessible to the general reader, large extracts 
will be given from his letters to a lady whom he addresses 
as the Countess : — 

" I had been informed at Pembenar that a number 
of Bois-bruiles had proceeded to this confluence in order 
to erect huts for their winter-hunting establishment, and 
that some one of them would certainly be able to accom- 
pany me, and act as my interpreter, as far as Red Lake ; 
and, if I desired it, still farther; but we found none 
there. The Cypowais had driven them away, as we 
were informed by one of the latter, and they were gone 
to establish themselves about a hundred miles lower 
down. On the other hand, my interpreter from Pem- 
benar could not possibly continue with me : besides his 
having to conduct back the mule, other powerful reasons 
operated to prevent him. I was therefore compelled to 



BELTRAMI VISITS RED LAKE. 351 

decide ; and I delivered myself over to the care of my 
two Indians. 

" We had not again proceeded up the river more 
than two miles before they stopped, and presented an 
offering of dry provisions and tobacco to Miciliki, the 
Manitou of Waters. This was a stake painted red, 
and fixed under a kind of sacellum, like those of anti- 
quity, and the ceremony is by no means modern. They 
were, for this once, more generous towards their deities 
than Indians in such circumstances generally are : the 
reason is, that their offering was at my expense. 

" The frequent rapids which we had met with in the 
course of five or six miles, and which had compelled us 
to walk continually in the water, and over pointed and 
cutting rocks, in order to preserve our canoe from 
injury, had very much fatigued us, and our appetite 
also induced us to make a halt : we accordingly did so, 
and, after eating my repast, I went to sleep beneath a 
tree, recommending myself to the care of Providence. 

" I was awakened by discharges of fire-arms, and, on 
starting up, perceived five or six Indians on the oppo- 
site bank of the river, apparently desirous to cross it. 
On seeing me they seemed struck with astonishment 
and terror, and fled with precipitation ; one of our In- 
dians was wounded. Those who had fired at them 
were Sioux. I was already known among the Indians 
of that nation as the Tonka- Wasci-cio-honsca, or the 
Great Chief from a far country ; and my tall stature 
and noble horse had rendered me the more remarked 
by them, as these are two things of which they are 
extreme admirers. When they again saw me on this 
spot, they concluded that the whole expedition was 
there, and lied with all haste for fear of being recog- 



352 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

nised. This was the idea that first presented itself to 
my mind, and I instantly acted upon it. We jumped 
immediately into our canoe ; I performed to the best of 
my power the labours of the wounded Indian, who had 
his left arm shot completely through, and his right 
shoulder grazed. The ball, however, had not touched 
the bone of the arm, and the wound in the shoulder 
had injured only the integuments. The juice of some 
boiled roots was applied as the healing balsam; the 
down of a swan-skin, which I had purchased at Pem- 
benar, was substituted for lint, my handkerchief served 
for a bandage, and the bark of a tree called owigobinigy, 
or white wood, answered the purpose of securing the 
arm in a sling. We kept on our course till evening, 
and saw nothing more of them. 

" My intrepid champions saw nothing but Sioux. 
The slightest sound from wind or water, the shadow of 
a tree or of a rock, everything was the Sioux. I disco- 
vered that they were plotting against me, for they care- 
fully avoided my looks. I had not the slightest doubt 
that they meant to leave me on the spot, and deter- 
mined therefore to make them re-embark, it being more 
easy to guard them in the canoe. About midnight we 
stopped. I had but little to fear, being left without my 
canoe, for I was already well aware that their intention 
must be to continue their course by land, by a route 
which would conduct them in two or three days to Eed 
Lake ; whereas, were they to proceed by the river they 
would require more than six. However, I considered 
that no precaution ought to be neglected by me ; I 
therefore drew the canoe to land, and fastened it to a 
tree by a cord, one end of which I tied to my leg, and 
then laid myself down by the side of them in such a 



BELTRAMI DESERTED BY INDIAN GUIDES. 353 

manner that they could not rise, even if I should be 
able to sleep, without waking me. These precautions, 
and my musket and my sword between my legs, ready 
tor immediate use, kept them quiet the whole night. 

" On the following morning they embarked withou. 
difficulty. But this was only with a view of reaching 
a certain point, whence the route by land was shorter. I 
might have used violence against them if I had chosen, 
for certainly I had no fear of them ; I had even taken the 
precaution of putting water into their musket barrels : 
but I should only have exasperated their nation, in a 
territory where it was now absolute and despotic, and 
where I could expect no assistance but from my own 
energies and the care of Providence ; I therefore suffered 
them quietly to go off. They intimated to me, what I 
was before well aware of, that they were going to leave 
me. They invited me to follow them, and to leave the 
canoe, provisions, and baggage, concealed in the brush- 
wood. I deliberated with myself on the subject for a 
moment : I considered that the river was my best and 
surest way, that I was in possession of a canoe, provi- 
sions, a musket, a sword, and ammunition ; whereas, by 
accepting their invitation, I should be following barba- 
rians who had the cowardice to abandon a stranger, con- 
fided to their guardianship at Pembenar by their most 
intimate friends, one who had treated them as brothers, 
saved them from the hands of the enemy, healed their 
wxmncls, and assisted them kindly with all his means. 
I should, with wretches of this description, be exposing 
myself in inextricable forests, in the midst of swamps 
and lakes, and abandoning to the mercy of a thousand 
accidents, my baggage, my provisions, and materials for 
the presents, which are indispensable passports through 

23 



354 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

a savage country. My determination, therefore, was 
soon fixed : after having vainly endeavoured to make 
them comprehend that both Manitous and men would 
punish such atrocity, I commanded them by words and 
signs peremptorily to be gone. 

" I imagine, my dear Countess, that you will feel the 
^rightfulness of my situation at this critical moment 
more strongly than I can express it. I really can 
scarcely help shuddering, as well as yourself, whenever 
I think of it. Fortunately, I was not at the time over- 
powered and confounded. Woe be to us, if in exigen- 
cies like this, despair takes possession of our minds. In 
that case all is completely over with us ! * * 

"The solitude I now experienced, which romance- 
writers would not have found so pleasant and delightful 
as that which they have been pleased to exhibit in their 
fictions, impressed me at first with ideas the most dread- 
ful. I must, said I to myself, leave this place some way 
or other ; and I jumped into my canoe and began row- 
ing. But I was totally unacquainted with the almost 
magical art by which a single person guides a canoe, 
and particularly a canoe formed of bark, the lightness 
of which is overpowered by the current, and the con- 
duct of which requires extreme dexterity. Frequently, 
instead of proceeding up the river, I descended ; a cir- 
cumstance which by no means shortened my voyage. 
Renewed efforts made me lose my equilibrium, the canoe 
upset, and admitted a considerable quantity of water. 
My whole cargo was wetted. I leaped into the water, 
drew the canoe on land, and laid it to drain with the 
keel upwards. I .then loaded it again, taking care to 
place the wetted part of my effects uppermost, to be 
dried by the sun. I then resumed my route. 



BELTRAMI'S EMBARRASSMENTS. 355 

" You sympathize with the embarrassment in which 
you conceive I must have been involved, with all my 
difficulties and want of means for continuing my course. 
I bore all, however, with great philosophy, and with a 
resignation which I believe you will readily admit is 
not very natural to me. I could scarcely help inces- 
santly smiling. I threw myself into the water up to 
my waist, and commenced a promenade of a rather un- 
usual kind, drawing the canoe after me with a thong 
from a buffalo's hide, which I had fastened to the prow. 
The first day of my expedition, the fifteenth of the 
month, was employed in this manner, and I did not 
stop till the evening. ****** 

" The weather on the second day of my progress was 
very disagreeable. A storm which commenced before 
mid-day continued till night. Notwithstanding this, 
however, I did not relax an instant but to take my 
food. I saw the hand of providence in the physical and 
moral vigour which supported me during this dreadful 
conflict. In the evening I had no access to a more com- 
fortable hearth than on the preceding one. My bear 
skin and my coverlid, which constituted the whole of 
my bed, were completely soaked ; and, what was worse, 
the mould began to affect my provisions. I was almost 
tempted to think that it was all over with my pro- 
menades, and that I began to travel, and that not very 
comfortably. 

" On the morning of the seventeenth of August, the 
sun's beams gilded the awful solitude by which I was 
surrounded, and I eagerly availed myself of their in- 
fluence. I laid out my provisions, baggage, gun, and 
sword, and stretched myself also at full length under 
his rays. The powder, which had fortunately been 



35b HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

closely confined in tin canisters, was the only thing that 
escaped the water. 

" Necessity makes man industrious, and the necessity 
I was now under to become so, was great indeed, as 
otherwise it was impossible for me to continue my pro- 
gress. The river became narrower and deeper the 
farther I ascended it, as is the case with all rivers origi- 
nating in lakes. It was thus absolutely indispensable 
for me to learn how to guide the canoe with the oar. 
I set myself, therefore, to study this art in good earnest ; 
and in the afternoon, when I struck my tent, I exerted 
myself first to pass several deep gulfs, and afterwards 
to traverse short stages or distances of the river ; but 
the fatigue I endured was extreme, and I preferred re- 
turning to my drag-rope whenever the river permitted 
my walking in it. As appearances seemed to threaten 
rain, I covered my effects with my umbrella, stuck into 
the bottom of my canoe. It was singular enough to 
see them conveyed thus in the stately style and manner 
of China, while I was myself condemned to travel in 
that of a galley slave ; nor could I help reflecting on 
those unfortunate victims of despotism which the resto- 
ration has condemned to drag the vessels on the Dan- 
ube. As it was of consequence for me to avail myself 
of everything that could promote cheerfulness and keep 
up my spirits, I could not help smiling, which I am 
sure, my dear Countess, you would yourself have done, 
at the sight of my grotesque convoy. * . * ■ * 

" The morning of the eighteenth awakened me to my 
active duties, and I proceeded in my course ; and before 
mid-day fell in with two canoes of Indians. Being 
alone in a canoe of their nation, with three muskets 
(for those of my two Indians were in my possession), I 



INDIANS' ASTONISHMENT AT UMBRELLA. 357 

might naturally have been apprehensive of exciting 
their most dangerous suspicions. But, heaven be praised, 
I entertained no apprehension whatever. I called to 
them with confidence, while they, struck with wonder 
at so extraordinary an object, halted on the opposite 
bank of the river. What astonished them most was 
my superbly conveyed baggage. They could form no 
idea of what that great red shin (my umbrella) could 
possibly be, nor of what was placed beneath it; and, 
observing me walking in the water, they perhaps ima- 
gined me to be their Miciliki. ***** 

" I made them comprehend what had occurred to me, 
and that I wanted one of them to accompany me as far 
as Ked Lake. At first they started immense difficul- 
ties ; but a woman was captivated by the beauty of my 
handkerchief, which was hanging from my pocket ; a 
lad was fascinated with the one I had about my neck, 
and an old man muffled up in a miserable ragged rug, 
which through its innumerable holes displayed nearly 
one-half of his person, had already cast his rapacious 
glance on mine ; pretending to search for something in 
my portmanteau, a bit of calico which casually came to 
hand excited the full gaze of one of the young girls ; 
and my provisions, which they had already tasted, 
strongly stimulated their gormandizing appetite : I satis- 
fied the whole of them, and the old man decided to 
accept my proposal. He took the helm of my vessel, 
and we set off. 

" This assistance extricated me from a situation which 
certainly was by no means pleasant, and it was so much 
the more valuable, as it would have been impossible for 
me to proceed alone, because the river was constantly 
increasing in depth. Notwithstanding this, however. 



358 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

my mind was in a state of incessant agitation as I pro- 
ceeded, and I perceived its attention completely occu- 
pied about something which it left behind it with regret. 
It was no difficult matter for me to detect this secret. 
My mind was, in fact, adverting to the four days of its 
solitude and independence. I, at that moment, fully 
comprehended why the Indians consider themselves 
happier than cultivated nations, and far superior to 
them. 

"It is difficult to meet with a rower as strong as my 
patriarchal companion, and we advanced at a rapid rate, 
without stopping, till the evening. Our table was fur- 
nished with a couple of ducks : I had fire to make a 
roast, and I shot them accordingly. Though my bed 
was without a coverlid (the cunning old fellow having 
left in his own canoe the one which I had given him), 
yet wrapping myself, like the Indians, in the skin I 
wore about me, I lay down to rest very comfortably. 
In the course of the night I was waked by my caution- 
ary cord ; and, at first, I imagined that my pilot was 
also going to desert me, but ,it turned out to be occa- 
sioned by some large animal who had taken a fancy to 
my provisions. I gently seized my gun, which I always 
keep at my side, and in an instant brought him down. 

" My Indian, confounded by the report of fire-arms, 
thought he had been attacked by the Sioux, about 
whom, not improbably, he had been dreaming, and im- 
mediately betook himself to flight. I called out to him, 
I ran towards him to convince him of his error and 
restore his confidence, but the forest and darkness con- 
cealed him from my view, and thus in a moment my 
solitude and independence were renewed. However, I 



ARRIVAL AT RED LAKE. 359 

could still have smiled at the adventure, if such an 
expression of feeling had been at all seasonable. 

" I waited for him in vain for the remainder of the 
night, Two discharges of the gun, however, which I 
fired off immediately, one after the other (considered by 
them as a signal of friendship) , brought him back to his 
quarters with the dawn of day. 

" We searched for the animal I had fired at, which it 
seems retained strength sufficient to drag itself to a few 
paces distance among the brushwood, to which traces 
of blood guided us ; it proved to be a wolf. My com- 
panion refused to strip the animal of its skin, a superb 
one, viewing it at the same time with an air of respect, 
and murmuring within himself some words, the mean- 
ing of which will probably surprise you. In fact, the 
wolf was his Manitou. He expressed to it the sincerity 
of his regret for what had happened, and informed it 
that he was not the person who had destroyed it. 

a 0n the 19th, my Mentor wanted to play me the 
trick of handing me over to the charge of another 
Indian whom he fell in with ; but I gave him a frown, 
and he went on with me. We again made a good day's 
progress, to which I contributed by rowing to the best 
of my ability. 

" Night arrived without his pausing in his exertions. 
He gave me to understand that it was indispensable for 
him to reach the destined place without delay, and 
appeared excessively eager to rejoin his canoes. 

" Much fatigued, and shivering under a cold moist 
air, with which the night-dews in this country pierce to 
the very bones, I lay down under my bear skin to sleep. 
A distant sound awoke me, and I found myself alone in 
my canoe, in the midst of rushes. On turning my head, 



360 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

I observed three or four torches approaching me. My 
imagination had at first transported me to the enchanted 
land of fairies, and I was in motionless expectation of 
receiving a visit from their ladyships, or of being ad- 
dressed, like Telemachus, by the nymphs. They proved, 
however, to be female Indians, who came to convey my 
effects, and to guide me to their hut. My Charon, who 
from purgatory had conducted me to Hell, had applied 
to them for this purpose, and then hastened his return 
to his family, who were waiting for him where he first 
met with me. I was now at Red Lake, at the marshy 
spot whence the river springs, and about a mile from 
an Indian encampment. 

" I was conducted to a hut covered with the bark of 
trees, like those which I have already described to you 
as belonging to the Cypowais, but on a larger scale. I 
there found fourteen Indians, male and female, nineteen 
dogs, and a wolf. The latter was the first to do the 
honours of the house ; however, as he was fastened, he 
could not attack me so effectively as he was evidently 
desirous of doing, and merely tore my pantaloons, which 
were, indeed, the only pair I had still serviceable. This 
wolf was one of their household gods. 

" The first two of the Indians that my eyes glanced 
on were my former treacherous companions : I appeared 
not to observe them. I desired the women to hang up 
my provisions to the posts which supported the roof, to 
preserve them from the voracity of the dogs ; and, not 
having any power to help myself, I lay down in the 
corner assigned to me in this intolerably filthy stable. 
When I got up again, you will easily believe that I did 
not rise alone : thus I incurred an addition of wounds 
and inflictions on a body which the pointed flints and 



INDIAN MOURNING. 361 

cutting shells of the river, and the boughs of treej r 
thorns, brambles, and mosquitoes, had previously co:i 
verted into a Job. 

" On the morning of the twentieth, I desired to I »e 
conducted to a bois brule, for whom I had brought a 
letter from Pembenar. I was told that he resided at a 
distance, and that the waters of the lake were in a sta te 
of great agitation. I could not even obtain the favo ur 
of having him sent for, for this happened to be the d xy 
when it was the bounden duty of all the members of 
the hut to devote themselves to yelling, eating, drink- 
ing, and dancing, in commemoration of the Indian killed 
at the river Cayenne. I quitted the place, and offered 
the only handkerchief that I had remaining to the first 
Indian whom I met, and he immediately went off with 
my letter. 

" The funeral ceremony presented nothing more extra- 
ordinary than what we have already seen, excepting 
the pillaging of my provisions in honour of the hero of 
the fete ; and the convulsions of the father and mother 
composed to quietude by the blowings and exorcisms 
of the priests, and the wounds inflicted on the arms and 
legs, the contortions, yellings, and howlings of his rela- 
tives. ******* 

" A party of the relatives and friends was gone on 
an expedition for discovering whether the Sioux had 
left no remains whatever on the spot where the tragedy 
had been acted, while my old friend the pilot, as herald- 
at-arms, had proceeded to rouse the vengeance and im- 
plore the succour of some Cypowais Jumpers, who were 
scattered in various spots about the forests. The doc- 
trine of these Indians is strikingly singular : it is per- 
haps held by them only, of all mankind. For they 



362 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

seem to recognise rather the immortality of the body 
than of the soul. 

ik My bois brule had now arrived. He was one of the 
numerous progeny scattered over the country by the 
vice and immorality of the fur traders. He is the son 
of a Canadian and a female Indian of the tribe of the 
Cypowais. * * * * * 

"My bois brule resides about twelve miles distant 
from this encampment to the south of the lake. The 
wind was too high for a canoe made of bark, and the 
lake too violently agitated ; we were compelled, there- 
fore, to disembark, and passed the night under an im- 
mense plane tree. This plane is, perhaps, the Colossus 
of the whole vegetable kingdom. The Indians adore it 
as a Manitou; the ancients would have done the same; 
and though I am myself a modern, I admire it as one 
of the most prodigious and most beautiful productions 
of nature. 

" We arrived at his hut on the morning of the twenty- 
first. Misery might be said to be personified in his 
family, and in all by which he was surrounded ; a wife 
(the daughter of a father she has never seen) nourishing 
an infant at her breast, but nearly destitute of nourish- 
ment herself, and five naked and famine-struck children, 
constituted the whole of his property. The uncertain 
fishery of the lake, and a small quantity of maize, in 
its green and immature state, furnish the whole means 
of their subsistence. They are neither civilized nor 
savage, possessing the resources of neither state, but 
every inconvenience and defect of both. The worst 
part of the case is, that this bois brule has a great deal 
of natural talent, which serves only to render him more 
dangerous. He has been taught both to read and write. 



RED RIVER OF RED LAKE. 363 

and has obtained that species of education which just 
serves to strengthen the innate evil propensities of the 
man, when unaccompanied by that moral training 
which is their proper curb and correction : in fact, the 
obliquity of his character has quite ruined him in the 
opinion of the traders who have successively employed 
him ; and his crimes obliged him to abscond from Pem- 
benar, where I was informed that I ought to be more 
on my guard against him than against the Indians 
themselves. I mention all these circumstances to you, 
my dear Countess, because, with the truest and noblest 
friendship, you are desirous of participating, as it were, 
in every description of danger incurred by me, and in 
order that those of our mutual friends who may be 
inclined to engage in the field of adventure like myself, 
may learn how to meet and overcome the various ene- 
mies they may have to encounter. * * 

" But we will now return to the Red river, from which 
we have somewhat, though not unnaturally, digressed, 
and which we have surveyed hitherto rather through 
the imagination than the senses. 

" It presents no other extraordinary feature than the 
very frequent winding of its course, in which perhaps 
it is scarcely exceeded by the Meander itself. It waters 
a country uniformly level, and the rapids which we 
have seen do not lower its level but by the height of its 
banks. After Robber's river, as you ascend, no other 
river flows into it. This is more particularly to be 
noticed, because the English Hudson's Bay Company, 
according to their theories, have created on their map 
other Red rivers, with many more tributary streams 
flowing into it than this has. 

" At the distance of about forty miles from the lake, 



364 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

its banks are lined with impenetrable forests; above, 
the view is agreeably varied by smiling meadows and 
handsome shrubbery. On flowing from the lake it 
passes among rushes and wild rice. It is an error of 
geographers, founded on the vague information of In- 
dians, that it derives its source from this lake ; indeed, 
a lake which is formed by five or six rivers which flow 
into it can never be considered as itself the source of 
any single river. We shall soon have occasion to look 
farther for this source. 

" The lake, by means of a strait, is divided into 
two ports, one to the north-east and the other to the 
south-west. Let us proceed to make the circuit of the 
last, which is certainly the most interesting. 

" It receives on the western side the river Broachers 
(Kinougeo-sibi) , and that of the Great Rock (Kiscicu- 
cinabed-sibi) ; to the south, the river Kaliasinilague-sibi, 
or Gravel river, near which the hut of my Bois-brule 
guide is situated ; that of Kiogokague-sibi, or Gold-fish 
river ; and that of Madaoanakan-sibi, or Great Portage 
river ; on the south-east, Cormorant river ( Cacahisciou- 
sibi) . A large tongue of land on the E. N. E. forms a 
peninsula about four miles in length, and of varying 
breadth, ending in a point towards the west. At a 
little distance, towards the north, there is another en- 
campment of Indians, consisting of about three hundred 
persons, the chief of whom is the Grand Carabou (Kisci- 
Adike). The strait is situated to the N. N. E., and there 
is a small island in the midst of its waters dividing 
them into two. To the north we find another tongue 
of land, which serves also to separate the two lakes, 
and reaches as far as the strait, commencing at the 
spot whence, as we have seen, Red river, or (more pro- 



NUMEROUS LAKES. 365 

perly speaking) Bloody river, proceeds. The other lake 
receives, on the east, Sturgeon river {Amenikaninssibi) . 
By the channel of this river, and by means of two 
portages, there is a communication with Bain river, 
from whence one can easily communicate with Lake 
Superior, to the south ; and with the waters of Hud- 
son's Bay, by the Lake of Woods, to the north. The 
waters which flow- into Lake Superior on this side, may 
be considered as the sources of the river St. Lawrence. 

" These two lakes are about one hundred and thirty 
miles in circumference ; and Red river traverses about 
three hundred from the lake to Pembenar; but in a 
straight line the whole distance scarcely amounts to 
one hundred and sixty. 

"How much has it cost me, my dear Countess, to 
write you these details ! Perhaps as much as it will 
you to peruse them ; for, like all women of spirit, you 
are fond of the brilliant and romantic. But our geo- 
graphical friends would accuse me of negligence if I 
forgot them in a country completely unknown to them, 
and where no white man had previously travelled. * * 

" In the course of an excursion which I made to the 
south-west, I discovered eight small lakes, undistin- 
guished by names, which all communicate with each 
other, and of which Gravel river is the outlet. These 
lakes seem to have been negligently scattered by nature 
through a territory sometimes gloomy and sometimes 
gay. varied with hills and dales, and presenting to the 
eye landscapes the most delightful and enchanting. I 
resolved to pass a night amidst scenes so uncommonly 
charming, that I might enjoy as long as possible the 
exquisite impressions they made upon my mind and 
senses. I dedicated these lakes to the family to which 



366 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

I am united by the most cordial friendship ; and accord- 
ingly gave them the names of Alexander, Lavinius, 
Everard, Frederica, Adela, Magdalena, Virginia, and 
Eleonora. The purity of the waters of these lakes I 
considered a correct* image of that of their minds ; and 
their union reminded me of the affection by which the 
members of this happy family are so tenderly connected. 

"I returned to the encampment of Great Hare, to 
engage an Indian to attend me, together with my bois 
brule guide, during the continuance of my excursion, 
and to purchase the canoe which was the scene of my 
tragi-comedy on Red river; for I was desirous of hav- 
ing it conveyed, if possible, to my rural cottage, and 
preserve it with my other Indian curiosities as a memo- 
rial and trophy of my labours in these my transatlantic 
promenades. ******** 

" The river of Great Portage is so called by the In- 
dians because a dreadful storm that occurred on it blew 
down a vast number of forest trees on its banks, which 
encumber its channel, and so impede its navigation as 
to make an extensive or great portage in order to reach 
it. The river thus denominated, however, is the true 
Red, or rather Bloody river. It enters the lake on the 
south, and goes out, as we have seen, on the north- 
west. This is the opinion of the Indians themselves, 
and it is not difficult to find arguments in support of it. 

" According to the theory of ancient geographers, the 
sources of a river which are most in a right line with its 
mouth should be considered as its principal sources, and 
particularly when they issue from a cardinal point and 
flow to the one directly opposite. This theory appeals 
conformable to nature and reason; and upon this prin- 
ciple we should proceed in forming the sources of the 



SOURCES OF RED RIVER. 367 

river of Great Portage. By the name Portage, is meant 
a passage which the Indians make over a tongue of 
land, from one river or lake to another, carrying with 
them on their backs their light canoes, their baggage, 
and cargoes. 

"I left Red Lake on the morning of the twenty-sixth. 
The commencement of Portage is between the river so 
called and Gold-fish river. It is about twelve miles 
long ; and I therefore engaged another Indian, with his 
horse, to effect it more conveniently. The country is 
delightful, but at times almost impenetrable. * 

"On the ensuing day, the twenty-seventh, I dis- 
charged the supernumerary Indian, with his horse ; for, 
having no provisions but what we could procure by 
means of our guns, we were already three too many. 
We crossed the small lake strictly in the direction from 
north to south; and here we commenced another port- 
age of four miles. ******* 

" At the end of this corvee we found the Great Port- 
age river. We embarked and proceeded up its current, 
crossing two lakes which it forms in its course, each 
about five or six miles in circumference, and containing 
patches of wild rice — unfortunately for us not yet ripe. 
We gave these lakes the name of Manomeny-Kany-aguen, 
or the Lakes of Wild Rice. 

" After proceeding upwards of five or six miles, always 
in a southerly direction, we entered a noble lake, formed 
like the others by the waters of the river, and which 
has no other issue than the river's entrance and dis- 
charge. 

" Its form is that of a half-moon, and it has a beauti- 
ful island in the centre of it. Its circumference is 
about twenty miles. The Indians call it Puposhy- W'tza~ 



368 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Kany-aguen, or the End of the shaking Lands ; an ety- 
mology very correct, as nearly all the region we have 
traversed from the Lake of Pines may be almost con- 
sidered to float upon the waters. * * * * 

" I passed on this spot a part of the day of my arrival 
and the whole of the succeeding night. On the morn- 
ing of the twenty-eighth, we resumed our navigation of 
the river, which enters on the south side of the lake. 

" About six miles higher up we discovered its sources, 
which spring out of the ground in the middle of a small 
prairie, and the little basin into which they bubble up 
is surrounded by rushes. We approached the spot 
within fifty paces in our canoe. 

" But now, my dear Countess, let me request you to 
step on quickly for a moment, pass the short portage 
which conducts to the top of the small hill, which over- 
hangs these sources on the south, and transport your- 
self to the place where I am now writing. Here, re- 
posing under the tree, beneath whose shade I am rest- 
ing at the present moment, you will survey with an 
eager eye, and with feelings of intense and new delight, 
the sublime traits of nature ; phenomena which fill the 
soul with astonishment, and inspire it at the same time 
with almost heavenly ecstasy ! This is a work which 
belongs to the Creator of it alone to explain. We can 
only adore in silence his omnipotent hand. 

" We are now on the highest land of North America, 
if we except the icy and unknown mountains which are 
lost in the problematical regions of the pole of that 
part of the world, and in the vague conjectures of vi- 
sionary mapmakers. Yet all is here plain and level, and 
the hill is merely an eminence formed, as it were, for 
an observatory. 



NORTHERN SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 3b9 

'•' Casting our eye around us, we perceive the flow of 
waters — to the south towards the Gulf of Mexico, to the 
north towards the Frozen Sea, on the east to the Atlantic, 
and on the west towards the Pacific Ocean. * * * 

" You have seen the sources of the river which I have 
ascended to this spot. They are precisely at the foot 
of the hill, and filtrate in a direct line from the north 
bank of the lake, on the right of the centre, in descend- 
ing towards the north. They are the sources of Bloody 
river. On the other side, towards the south, and equally 
at the foot of the hill, other sources form a beautiful little 
basin of about eighty feet in circumference. These 
waters likewise filtrate from the lake, towards its south- 
western extremity : and these sources are the actual 
sources of the Mississippi ! This lake, therefore, sup- 
plies the most southern sources of Red, or, as I shall in 
future call it (by its truer name), Bloody river; and 
the most northern sources of the Mississippi — sources till 
now unknown of both. 

" This lake is about three miles round. It is formed 
in the shape of a heart ; and it may be truly said to 
speak to the very soul. Mine was not slightly moved 
by it. It was but justice to draw it from the silence in 
which geography, after so many expeditions, still suf- 
fered it to remain, and to point it out to the world in 
all its honourable distinction. I have given it the name 
of the respectable lady whose life (to use the language 
of her illustrious friend the Countess of Albany) was 
one undeviating course of moral rectitude, and whose 
death was a calamity to all who had the happiness of 
knowing her; and the recollection of whom is inces- 
santly connected with veneration and grief by all who 
can properly appreciate beneficence and virtue. I have 

24 



370 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

called the lafce, accordingly, Lake Julia ; and the sources 
of the two rivers, the Julian sources of Bloody river, 
and the Julian sources of the Mississippi, which, in the 
Algonquin language, means the Father of Rivers. Oh ! 
what were the thoughts which passed through my mind 
at this most happy and brilliant moment of my life ! 
The shades of Marco Polo, of Columbus, of Americus 
Yespucius, of the Cabots, of Yerazani, of the Zenos, 
and various others, appeared present, and joyfully assist- 
ing at this high and solemn ceremony, and congratu- 
lating themselves .on one of their countrymen having, 
by new and successful researches, brought back to the 
recollection of the world the inestimable services which 
they had themselves conferred on it by their own 
peculiar discoveries, by their talents, achievements, and 

" I find it impossible to become weary of examining 
and admiring the least objects of attention furnished 
by this scene. The majestic river, which embraces a 
world in its immense course, and speaks in thunder in 
its cataracts, is at these its sources nothing but a timid 
Naiad, stealing cautiously through the rushes and briars 
which obstruct its progress. The famous Mississippi, 
whose course is said to be twelve hundred leagues, and 
which bears navies on its bosom, and steamboats supe- 
rior in size to frigates, is at its source merely a petty 
stream of crystalline water, concealing itself among 
reeds and wild rice, which seem to insult over its hum- 
ble birth. *** * * * * * * 

" Neither traveller, nor missionary, nor geographer, 
nor expedition-maker, ever visited this lake. A great 
many of the stories which find their way into books are 
invented by the red men, either to deceive the whites, 



INDIANS DISPOSED TO MISLEAD. 371 

or to conceal their own belief or their own weaknesses. 
The Indians themselves have confessed to 
me that, when they go down to the traders' settlements, 
they amuse themselves with gulling their credulity by 
a number of fables, which afterwards become the oracles 
of geographers and book-makers. * * * * 

tt On the fourth of September we struck our tents 
very early, and arrived in the evening at Red Cedar 
Lake, so called on account of the number of those beau- 
tiful trees, whose dark green foliage overshadows its 
islands and banks. * * * * 

" This lake is the non plus ultra of all the discoveries 
ever made in these regions before my own. No tra- 
veller, no expedition, no explorer, whether European or 
American, has gone beyond this point ; and it is at this 
lake that Mr. Schoolcraft fixed the sources of the Mis- 
sissippi in 1819. For the more complete celebration of 
this fortunate discovery, this illustrious epoch, he rebap- 
tized it by the name of Lake Cassina, from the name of 
Mr. Cass, Governor of Michigan territory, who was at 
the head of the expedition. Mr. Schoolcraft was the 
historiographer. * * * * 

" At the bottom of this last lake, on the west, is found 
the entrance of a considerable river, which the Indians 
call Demizimaguamaguensibi, or the river of Lake Tra- 
verse. It issues from the lake (the second of that 
name), twenty miles above its mouth, on the north- 
west. This lake communicates, in the same direction, 
by a strait of two or three miles in length, with another 
lake, which the Indians call Moscosaguaiguen, or Bitch 1 
Lake, which receives no tributary stream, and seems to 
draw its waters from the bosom of the earth. It is here, 

1 La Biche Lake, or Elk Lake. 



6iZ HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

in my opinion, that we shall fix the western sources of 
the Mississippi. 1 * * * * 

" On the night of the seventh I slept at the mouth of 
Leech river. The lake whence it issues is a new Colchis, 
where a second Jason found, like the first, a golden 
fleece ; where Mr. Pike fixed the sources of the Missis- 
sippi, fourteen years before Mr. Cass fixed them at Red 
Cedar Lake. This circumstance could not fail of excit- 
ing my curiosity, and I determined, in consequence, to 
go and view the scene which had given birth to the con- 
jectures of the first of my two predecessors. * * 

" On the ninth we arrived at Leech Lake (Kaza-gas- 
guaiguen), at Macuwa, or Bear Island, where we found 
a considerable band of Cypowais plunderers, so denomi- 
nated from their plundering and murdering the first 
Canadians who pushed their commerce to such a dan- 
gerous distance. 

" This band is very numerous and warlike. I found 
it divided into two factions, one of which is actuated by 
the spirit of legitimacy, the other by its opposite. The 
Pokes Jeononepe, or Cloudy Weather, a usurper, contests 
ihe crown and empire with the chief Esquibusicoge, or 
Wide Mouth, who possesses them by hereditary right : 
but as these Indians, beyond all others, require for their 
liead a daring and active man, who can conduct them 
to victory over the Sioux, by whom they are frequently 
harassed, instead of an idle and profligate poltroon, 
always reposing under the shade of his genealogical 
tree, and destitute of all merit but that allowed him by 
his flatterers, Cloudy Weather has the majority on his 
side. The government of the United States acknow- 

1 Nine years after this suggestion, Allen and Schoolcraft visited the 
western sources of the Mississippi. 



BELTRAMI AT LEECH LAKE. 373 

ledges both: Cloudy Weather, because he declaims in 
their favour ; and Wide Mouth, in order to detach him 
from the English, to whom he is friendly ; but princi- 
pally, I imagine, from the policy of keeping alive divi- 
sion in a band powerful in force but precarious in 
attachment. * * * * 

" On my arrival among them they were in no little 
commotion on another subject, involving the two parties 
in new contention. Cloudy Weather's son-in-law had 
been killed a few days before by the Sioux, and they 
had at the same time received intelligence of the affair 
at Cayenne river, and of what had happened to my two 
Indians on Bloody river. Wide Mouth demanded an 
immediate war, and was desirous of forming an army, 
of which he himself never constituted any part. Cloudy 
Weather, who is not deficient in sense, suspected that 
this warlike ardour, this extraordinary eagerness and 
zeal, were assumed with a view to remove him out of 
the way, and turn his absence to his injury; and there- 
fore, although the principal person aggrieved, strongly 
recommended prudence and moderation. * * 

" I was a spectator of the funeral ceremony performed 
in honour of the manes of Cloudy Weather's son-in-law, 
whose body had remained with the Sioux, and was sus- 
pected to have furnished one of their repasts. What 
appeared not a little singular, and indeed ludicrous in 
this funeral comedy, was the contrast exhibited by the 
terrific lamentations and yells of one part of the com- 
pany, while the others were singing and dancing with 
all their might. I was scarcely able several times to 
refrain from laughing; but the ceremony having some 
resemblance to the usages of the ancients, who also on 
such occasions paid and employed together Tlbiceucs 



374 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

and Prceficce, my respect for antiquity and antiquaries 
enabled me to preserve my gravity. At another fune- 
ral ceremony for a member of the Grand Medicine, 
and at which, as a man of another world, I was permit- 
ted to attend, the same practice occurred. But, at the 
feast which took place on that occasion, an allowance 
was served up for the deceased out of every article of 
which it consisted, while others were beating, wounding, 
and torturing themselves, and letting their blood flow 
both over the dead man and his provisions, thinking 
possibly that this was the most palatable seasoning for 
the latter which they could possibly supply. His wife 
furnished out an entertainment present for him of all her 
hair and rags, with which, together with his arms, his 
provisions, his ornaments, and his mystic medicine bag, 
he was wrapped up in the skin which had been his last 
covering when alive. He was then tied round with the 
bark of some particular trees which they use for mak- 
ing cords, and cords of a very firm texture and hold 
(the only ones indeed which they have), and instead 
of being buried in the earth, was hung up to a large oak. 
The reason of this was, that as his favourite Manitou 
was the eagle, his spirit would be enabled more easily 
from such a situation to fly with him to Paradise. Here 
again we perceive another trait of antiquity, and a rich 
relish for our antiquarian amateurs, whom, I think, I 
must at length have completely satisfied. The oak is 
also among the Indians the tree consecrated to the 
eagle, that is to say, to Jupiter. 

" Mr. Pike, who was at the head of the expedition, 
despatched by the government of the United States in 
1805, to discover the sources of the Mississippi, fixes 
them at this lake, although the river Leech which flows 



MORRISON AT ITASCA LAKE IN 1804. 375 

into it on the N.N.W., ascends more than fifty miles 
higher up ; and although various other rivers, the courses 
of which are as yet unknown, equally flow into this lake. 
But it was in winter ; the cold was excessively severe, 
and it is no pleasant or easy matter to discover sources 
through ice. It is impossible to doubt, that, at a differ 
ent season of the year, and with a less embarrassing 
party, Mr. Pike would have pushed his discoveries far- 
ther. He was a bold and enterprising man ; and his 
expedition to New Mexico, and his glorious death in 
the field of honour, merit a place in history. He will 
always be entitled to the distinction of having been the 
first who extended his researches so far in regions so 
wild and repulsive, and that at a time when there ex- 
isted no fort whatever on the Mississippi." 

The following letter, written by William Morrison, 
an old trader, to his brother, Allan Morrison, published 
in the Annals of the Minnesota Historical Society for 
1856, shows that the lakes of the Upper Mississippi 
were visited early in the present century by those en- 
gaged in Indian commerce : — 

" Dear Brother, — In answering your favour of the 
tenth January, I will pass several incidents that I pre- 
sume you are well informed of, and give you the time 
and circumstances that led me to be the first white 
man that discovered the source of the great Mississippi 
river. I left Grand Portage, on the north shore of Lake 
Superior, now the boundary line between the United 
States and the British Possessions, in the year 1802, 
and landed at Leech Lake in September or October, the 
same year. I wintered on one of the streams of the 
Crow Wing, near its source. Our Indians were Pilla- 
gers. In 1803 and 1804, I went and wintered at Rice 



376 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Lake. I passed by Red Cedar Lake, now called Cass 
Lake, followed up the Mississippi to Cross Lake, and 
then up the Mississippi again to Elk Lake, now called 
Itasca Lake, the source of the great river Mississippi. 
A short distance this side, I made a portage, to get to 
Rice river, which is called the Portage of the Heights 
of Land, or the dividing ridge that separates the waters 
of the Mississippi and those that empty into the Red 
River of the North ; thence to Hudson's Bay, the port- 
age is short. 

I discovered no traces of any white man before me r 
when I visited Itasca Lake in 1804. And if the late 
General Pike did not lay it down as such, when be- 
came to Leech Lake, it is because he did not happen to 
meet me. I was at an outpost that winter. The late 
General Pike laid down Cass Lake on his map as the 
head of the Mississippi river. In 1811-12, I went the 
same route, to winter on Rice river, near the plains. 
There I overtook a gentleman with an outfit from 
Mackinac, by the name of Otesse, with whom I parted 
only at Fond du Lac, he taking the southern route to 
Mackinac, and I the northern to head-quarters, which 
had been changed from Grand Portage to Fort William. 
This will explain to you that I visited Itasca Lake, 
then called Elk Lake, in 1803-4, and in 1811-12, and 
five small streams that empty into the lake, that are 
short, and soon lose themselves in the swamps. 

" By way of explanation, why the late General Pike,, 
then Captain Pike, in 1805, who had orders to stem the 
Mississippi to its source, and was stopped by the ice a 
little below Swan river, at the place since called Pike's 
Rapids, or Pike's Block House, and had to proceed from 
there to Leech Lake on foot. He had to learn there 



MORRISON'S LETTER ABOUT PIKE. 377 

where the source of the Mississippi was. He went to 
Cass Lake, and could proceed no further. He had been 
told that I knew the source, but could not see me, T 
being out at an outpost. This want of information made 
him commit the error; some person, not knowing better y 
told him there was no river above Cass Lake. Cass Lake 
receives the waters of Cross Lake, and Cross Lake those 
of Itasca Lake, and five small streams that empty into 
Itasca Lake, then called Elk Lake. Those streams I 
have noted before, no white man can claim the dis- 
covery of the source of the Mississippi before me, for I 
was the first that saw and examined its shores." 

From this digression, let us return to the narrative 
of Beltrami : — 

" On the morning of the fourteenth, I landed at the 
establishment of the South-west Company, near the exit 
of the Leech river, in hopes of replacing in some mea- 
sure my Bois brute. But we found only a single person 
there, left to take care of the place ; and it was quite 
impossible for him to leave it ; I was therefore obliged 
to go on with Cloudy Weather only. However, I ob- 
tained all the instructions that were necessary to enable 
me to proceed with information as far as Sandy Lake \ 
and I found myself gradually more intelligible to my 
new Indian associate. * * * 

" On the evening of the seventeenth we arrived at 
Sandy Lake, on the east, which is about one hundred 
and twenty miles from the last^mentioned place, about 
three hundred from Red Lake, and about three hundred 
also from Leech Lake. * * 

" All the maps, whether of former or recent date, even 
those constructed conformably to expeditions ', are exceed- 
ingly incorrect with respect to the situation of Sandy 



378 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Lake. They place it at the south-east of Lake Leech, 
thougk it is nearly at the east ; and this error draws after 
it others respecting its latitude and longitude. I have 
observed this mistake by the due application of my com- 
pass, the result of which corresponds with the opinions 
of the Indians on the subject, who, indeed, are very 
seldom deceived in their geographical statements. * * 

" After passing the confluence of the Missay-guani- 
sibi, or River Brandy, on the east, and that of another 
river, which is unknown, on the west, I approached 
that grand and interesting spectacle — the Falls of St. 
Anthony. 1 * * The strength of the current hurried 
forward our canoe with alarming rapidity ; and at length 
I discerned between the trees, and in a pleasant back- 
ground, the roof of a house, indicating of course civilized 
habitation. This was the mill for the garrison at the 
fort. On reaching this place, my mind, still dwelling 
on all the grand and terrible scenes which had occurred 
to me in the course of three months, while traversing 
eternal deserts, among barbarous tribes and unknown 
regions, was agitated with emotions which I could 
scarcely describe or discriminate. 

" The sight of this object, which announced my ap- 
proach to the residence of cultivated man, produced in 
me a conflict of opposite feelings. I regretted the inde- 
pendence of savage life, while at the same time I expe- 
rienced a thrill of delight at returning within the sphere 
of civilized society. 

" After having cleared the portage, I completed my 
Indian toilet for the last time ; that is, I shaved myself 
without either soap or glass, and with razors which were 
much like saws. I took my bath in the river, and 

1 September thirtieth. 



BELTRAMI IN TATTERS AT FORT SNELLING. 379 

dressed myself as well as I was able, in order to appear 
at the fort as decently as possible. But I was beset on 
all sides with dirt and squalidnesss : these perhaps have 
in fact formed the greatest of my sufferings. My head 
was covered with the bark of a tree, formed into the 
shape of a hat and sewed with threads of bark ; and 
shoes, a coat, and pantaloons, such as are used by Cana- 
dians in the Indian territories, and formed of orignal 
skins sewed together by thread made of the muscles of 
that animal, completed the grotesque appearance of my 
person. I am indebted for my new wardrobe to the 
fair Woascita, who had compassion on the nakedness 
to which the thorns and brambles of the forest had 
reduced me. The Indians attach a high value to the 
skins of the orignal, which is the most beautiful of 
quadrupeds, the monarch of reindeer, and only very 
rarely to be met with. ***** 

" My Indians announced their approach in the cus- 
tomary manner, that is, by the discharge of guns loaded 
with ball, and with shouts and chants accompanied by 
the sound of their harmonious drums. 

" Melancholy rumours respecting my safety had been 
circulated at the fort, and young Snelling, on his return 
to it, having expressed the apprehensions he felt on 
my account when we parted at Pembenar, had thus 
strengthened the belief in them. These gentlemen in 
fact supposed me to be dead. 

" On the arrival of the flotilla all the officers hastened 
down to inquire about me. They were answered by 
the supposed dead man himself. While replying to 
their kind questions I divested myself of the skin 
covering which I had on, in the disguise of an Indian ; 
a character which my countenance and general appear- 



380 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

ance greatly contributed to my supporting. I saw in 
the expression of their physiognomies both a movement 
of surprise, and sentiments of affection and friendship. 
The excellent Mr. Tagliawar embraced me in the most 
cordial manner, and the colonel, his respectable wife,, 
and his children, received me with demonstrations of 
the most lively joy. I was much moved, and could not 
help shedding tears of gratitude and attachment. This 
was the first time since fate began to steep my exist- 
ence in anguish that I beheld a gleam of those happy 
moments which, in Italy, friendship always procured for 
me whenever I returned from my occasional absences. 
And during the short time that I remained among them 
I experienced nothing of the constraint, nothing of the 
cold and formal politeness which Americans in general 
are accustomed to affect, particularly towards strangers, 
and which, like a moral rust, tarnishes their natural 
benevolence and impairs the value of their hospitality." 

Dr. Norwood, who was the assistant of Dr. Owens, in 
the United States' Geological Survey of Minnesota, 
speaking of his route from Cass Lake, says : — 

" Our route from this place led through Turtle river, 
and the chain of lakes described by Mr. J. C. Beltrami, 
in 1823, as the ' Julian sources of the Mississippi.' * 
* * * * The ma p sketched by him is a tolerably 
correct one, and appears to have been the source from 
which Mr. Nicollet derived his information with regard 
to the route between Cass and Red Lakes." * 

In the language of Nicollet, the last explorer of the 
extreme western source of the Mississippi, " I may be 
mistaken, but it strikes me that American critics have 
been too disdainful of Mr. Beltrami's book." 

1 Owens' Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, pp. 322-3. 



FINDLAY KILLED AT LAKE PEPIN. 381 

In the year 1824, a Mr. Findlay left Prairie du Chien 
in a canoe, and ascended the Mississippi in company 
with a Canadian named Barrette, and two others. On 
their arrival at Lake Pepin, they were met by an Ojib- 
WB,y war party from Lac du Flambeau. The Canadian 
thought he recognised in' the party an Indian, who, the 
the previous winter, had come to the place on Black 
river where he was cutting lumber, and stole his horse. 

Both Findlay and Barrette had partaken freely of 
whiskey, and, quarrelling with the Indians, they were 
all killed, and their goods and provisions stolen. 

Until the American Fur Company systematized the 
trade in Minnesota, and Congress took measures to 
exclude whiskey dealers from the Indians, trade was 
carried on in a way to make humanity blush. The fol- 
lowing letter of Colonel Snelling, addressed to the secre- 
tary of war, exhibits the disgraceful condition of affairs 
at that time : — 

" In former letters addressed to the department of 
war, I have adverted to the mischievous consequences 
resulting from the introduction of whiskey, and other 
distilled spirits, into the Indian country. The pretext 
Is, that our traders cannot enter into successful compe- 
tition with the British traders without it. If the sale 
of whiskey could be restricted to the vicinity of the 
British line, the mischief would be comparatively trivial, 
but, if permitted at all, no limits can be set to it. A 
series of petty wars and murders, and the introduction 
of every species of vice and debauchery, by the traders 
and their engagees, will be the consequence. It be- 
comes, also, a fruitful source of complaint with those 
engaged in the same trade from the West. The traders 
who obtain their supplies from St. Louis, pass Fort Snel- 
•Inur. where, in obedience to the orders I have received 



382 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

from the president, their boats are searched, and no 
spirituous liquors are permitted to be taken further. 

" The traders who are licensed for the lakes, spread 
themselves over the whole country between Lake Supe- 
rior and the Upper Mississippi ; their whiskey attracts 
a large proportion of the Indians to their trading-houses ; 
and the Western traders not only have to complain of 
the loss of custom, but, in many instances, the Indians 
who have obtained their goods of them, are seduced by 
whiskey to carry their winter's himt to others. This 
has long been one of the tricks of the trade. The 
traders, who are not generally restrained by any moral 
rules, after they pass the boundary, practise it without 
scruple, whenever opportunity occurs, and he who has 
the most whiskey generally carries off the furs. They 
are so far from being ashamed of the practice, that it 
affords them subject for conversation by their winter 
fires. I have myself frequently heard them boast of 
their exploits in that way. The neighbourhood of the 
trading-houses where whiskey is sold presents a disgust- 
ing scene of drunkenness, debauchery, and misery. In 
my route I passed Prairie du Chien, Green Bay, and 
Mackinac ; no language can describe the scenes of vice 
which there present themselves. Herds of Indians are 
drawn together by the fascinations of whiskey, and they 
exhibit the most degraded picture of human nature I 
ever witnessed." * 

1 Licensed Indian traders among Duncan Campbell, Falls St. Croix. 

Dahkotahs in 1826 : — John Campbell, Mouth of Chippe- 

P. Prescott, Leaf River. way. 

P. Lamont, Mouth of Minnesota. Francis Grandin, Traverse des 

J. Renville, Lac qui Parle. Sioux. 

Wra. Dickson, Lac Traverse. Hagan Moores, Lao Traverse. 

B. F. Baker, Crow Island, Upper Louis Provencalk, Traverse des 

Mississippi. Sioux. 



PRAIRIE DU CHIEN TREATY OF 1825. 383 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

For more than a century there had been a westward 
tendency in the emigration of the Indian nations, and 
a frequent source of war among the North-western 
tribes, was the encroachment upon each other's hunting 
ground. 

In the hope that good might result from well defined 
boundary lines, on the nineteenth of August, 1825, by 
order of the authorities at Washington, Governor 
Clark, of Missouri, and Cass, of Michigan, convened at 
Prairie du Chien, a grand Congress of Dahkotahs, Ojib- 
ways, Sauks, and Foxes, Menomonies, Ioways, Winne- 
bagoes, Pottawottami.es, and Ottawas. 

After some discussion, it was agreed between the 
Dahkotahs and Ojibways, that the line dividing their 
respective countries, should commence at the Chippewa 
river, half a day's march below the falls, and from 
thence to Red Cedar river just below the falls, and 
thence to the Standing Cedar, a day's paddle above the 
head of Lake St. Croix; thence between two lakes 
called by the Ojibways, "Green Lakes," and the Dah- 
kotahs, the "Lakes of the Buried Eagles;" and from 
thence to the Standing Cedar that the Dahkotahs split; 
thence to Rum river, crossing at Choking Creek, a day's 



384 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

march from its mouth ; thence to a point of woods that 
projects into the prairie a half day's march from the 
Mississippi ; thence in a straight line to the mouth of 
the first river above the Sauk; thence up that river to 
a small lake at its source ; thence to a lake at the head 
of Prairie river, a tributary of Crow Wing ; thence to the 
portage of Otter Tail Lake ; thence to the outlet of said 
lake; thence to the Buffalo river, midway between its 
source and mouth, and down said river to Red river, 
and down Red river to the mouth of the Outard creek. 

The eastern boundary of the Dahkotahs, was to com- 
mence opposite the Ioway river, running back to the 
bluffs, and along the bluffs to Bad Axe river; thence to 
mouth of Black river; and thence to half a day's march 
below the falls of the Chippewa. 

A few months after the treaty of Prairie du Chien, it 
was very evident that neither Dahkotah nor Ojibway 
were willing to be pent up by any boundary lines. 

As the Ojibways were dispersed over a great extent of 
country, it was agreed at Prairie du Chien, that the 
government of the United States should convene them 
in 1826, at some point on the shores of Lake Superior. 
The place selected, was Fond du Lac ; and Lewis Cass 
and T. L. McKenney were the commissioners to assemble 
the Indians, and conclude tne first formal treaty on 
the soil of Minnesota. 

On the twenty-eighth of July, the expedition ap- 
proached in their barges, with flying colours and mar- 
tial music, the trading post of Fond du Lac; and for the 
first time the ears of the Indians of that region were 
greeted with the tune of "Hail Columbia." On the 
thirty-first, the commissioner, McKenney, went over to 
the island opposite the Fur Company's post, to visit an 



VISIT TO A WOMAN SCALPED WHEN A GIRL, 385 

Ojibway woman who had been scalped when a child, 
under these circumstances : Having accompanied a band 
of sixty men, women, and children to the vicinity of 
the falls of the Chippeway river, they were surprised 
by a Dahkotah war party which rushed down from the 
bluffs, and fired into their lodges. The woman, who 
was then only fourteen years of age, ran towards the 
woods, and was pursued by a Dahkotah brave, who 
captured and bound her. 

Just then another Dahkotah approached, and struck 
her with a war club, scalped her, and was about to cut 
her throat, when he was shot. In the contest for the 
child, each warrior had taken off a portion of her scalp, 
and, while they were wrangling, her father had ap- 
proached and fired his gun, which killed both. When 
the shades of night came, he went to the spot where he 
had last seen his daughter, recovered the pieces of her 
scalp, and, after some search, found her senseless on 
the snow, about a half mile from the scene of conflict. 
By proper attention she was restored, and at the time 
of the treaty of Fond du Lac, she was the mother of 
ten children, and her skull still bore the marks of 
violence. 

On the second of August the council met, and con- 
tinued several days. Among those who took a seat was 
an aged Ojibway woman, from Montreal river. She 
wore around her neck her husband's medal, and, being 
very poor, in the place of wampum she laid on the com- 
missioners' table some grass and porcupine quills. In pre- 
senting them, she said : " I come in the place of my hus- 
band. He is old and blind, but he yet has a mouth and 
ears. He can speak and hear. He is very poor. He 
hopes to receive a present from his fathers." 

25 



386 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

After the usual feastings and speeches, and exhaust- 
ing of patience, a treaty was concluded on the fifth da} 
of August, which, with some modifications, was ratified 
by the United States Senate, on the second day of Feb- 
ruary of the next year. 

By an article of the treaty the Ojibways fully dis- 
claimed all connexion with Great Britain, and acknow- 
ledged the authority of the United States. At the 
council there were present deputations from the Min- 
nesota bands at Fond du Lac, river St. Croix, Rainy 
Lake, Sandy Lake, Leech Lake, Snake River, and Crow 
Wing. 

Supplementary to the treaty was inserted the follow- 
ing clause. " As the Chippeways who committed the 
murder upon four American citizens, in June, 1824, 
upon the shores of Lake Pepin, are not present at this 
council, but are far in the interior of the country, so 
that they cannot be apprehended and delivered to the 
proper authority before next summer ; and as the com- 
missioners have been specially instructed to demand the 
surrender of those persons, and to state to the Chippe- 
way tribe the consequence of suffering such a flagitious 
outrage to go unpunished, it is agreed that the persons 
guilty of the aforementioned murder shall be brought 
in, either to the Sault St. Marie, or Green Bay, as early 
next summer as practicable." 

Governor Cass, having determined to return in a bark 
canoe, contracted with a son of the scalped woman to 
build one of suitable dimensions, about five feet in width, 
and thirty-six in length. Immediately a large company 
of squaws and children commenced the work, for they 
are the mechanics of every Indian village. Stakes were 
driven into the ground, the desired length of the canoe,, 



CASS ORDERS A BIRCH CANOE. 387 

and then rolls of birch bark stripped from the trees 
unbroken, and stitched together with the roots of the 
larch, were placed within the enclosure and secured to 
the stakes. Cross pieces of cedar are now inserted, pro- 
ducing the desired form, and constituting the ribs or 
framework. The birch bark properly secured to the 
frame, the stakes are pulled out of the ground, and the 
seams covered with resin that the water should not 
enter. After some ornamenting of the sides, it was 
ready for delivery to Mr. Cass. 

" Thus the birch canoe was builded, 
In the valley, by the river, 
In the bosom of the forest ; 
And the forest's life was in it, 
All its mystery, and its magic. 
All the lightness of the birch tree, 
All the toughness of the cedar, 
All the larch's supple sinews ; 
And it floated on the river, 
Like a yellow leaf in Autumn, 
Like a yellow water lily." 

Not long after the treaty, twenty-nine Ojibways sur- 
rendered themselves at Sault St. Marie. After an exa- 
mination, seven were committed for trial, and confined 
at Mackinaw. At the next term of court, the judge 
declined trying the prisoners, in consequence of doubts 
of jurisdiction; and, during the next winter, they cut 
their way out of the log jail, and escaped to their dis- 
tant home. 

The year of the treaty of Fond du Lac, was another 
remarkable year to the Selkirk colony, known to this 
day as the year of the flood. 

In the month of Januarv, it was rumored at the 
Selkirk settlement, that the hunters who were on the 



388 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

plains of Minnesota in quest of buffalo were starving. 
The sufferers were from one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred miles from Pembina, and the only way to 
carry provisions to them was by dog sleds. The sym- 
pathy for their welfare was very great; and even the 
widow contributed a mite to their relief. 

It appears from a statement made by one who was 
m the colony at the time, that in the month of Decem- 
ber, 1825, a snow storm raged with violence for several 
days, and drove the buffalo out of the hunter's reach. 
As this was an unexpected contingency, they had no 
meat as a substitute, and famine stared them in the 
face. 

Says an eye-witness i 1 " Families here, and families 
there, despairing of life, huddled themselves together 
for warmth, and in too many cases, their shelter proved 
their grave. At first the heat of their bodies melted 
the snow ; they became wet, and being without food or 
fuel, the cold soon penetrated, and in several instances 
froze the whole body into solid ice. Some again were 
in a state of actual delirium, while others were picked 
up frozen to death; one woman was found with an 
infant on her back within a quarter mile of Pembina. 
This poor creature must have travelled at the least, one 
hundred and twenty-five miles in three days and nights. 
Those that were found alive, had devoured their horses, 
their dogs, raw-hides, leather, and their very shoes. 
So great were their sufferings, that some died on the 
road to the colony after being relieved at Pembina. One 
man with his wife and three children were dug out of 
the snow where they had been buried for five days and 

1 Alexander Ross. 



FLOOD AT RED RIVER SETTLEMENT. 389 

nights without food, fire, or light of the sun, and the 
wife and two of the children recovered." 

When the spring came, the melting of the winter's 
snow produced a still greater calamity. On the second 
day of May, in twenty-four hours, the Red river rose 
nine feet; and by the fifth, the plains were submerged. 
A panic now seized every living thing ; dogs howled, 
cattle lowed, children cried, mothers wept and wrung 
their hands, and fathers called out to their families to 
escape to the hills. The water continued to rise until 
the twenty-first, and houses and barns floated in the 
rushing waters. On one night a house in flames moved 
over the waters amid logs and uprooted trees, house- 
hold furniture, and drowning cattle, reminding one of 
the day when "the heavens being on fire, shall be 
dissolved." 

The waters began to abate in June; and such is the, 
surprising quickness with which vegetation matures 
five degrees of latitude north of St. Paul, that barley, 
potatoes, and wheat sowed on the twenty-second of 
June, came to maturity. 

Misled by the florid representations of one of Lord 
Selkirk's agents, a number of Swiss arrived in the 
colony, in 1821. Their occupations had been mechani- 
cal, chiefly that of clock making, and they were not 
adapted for the stern work of founding a colony in the 
interior of the North American continent. 

From year to year their spirits drooped, and, when 
the Switzers' song of home was sung, they could not 
keep back their tears. 

After the flood, they could no longer remain in the 
land of their adversity, and they became the pioneers 
in emigration and agriculture in the state of Minnesota. 



390 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



At one time a party of two hundred and forty-three de- 
parted for the United States, who found homes at dif- 
ferent points on the banks of the Mississippi. 

Before the eastern wave of emigration had ascended 
beyond Prairie du Chien, the Swiss had opened farms 
on and near St. Paul/ and should be recognised as the 
first actual settlers in the country. 

The spring of 1826 was very cold. On the 20th of 
March, at Fort Snelling, snow fell to the depth of one 
and a half feet on a level and drifted into heaps ten or 
twelve feet in height. On the 5th of April, there 
was a violent snow storm, and on the 10th of April, the 
thermometer was 4 degrees below zero. On the 21st the 



1 Stevens, in an address on the 
early history of Hennepin county, 



" Strange as it may appear, the 
immigrants were from the north, all 
from the Hudson Bay Territory, 
from which they had been driven by 
high water. This colony consisted 
of Louis Massey, Mr. Perry, Pierrie, 
G-arvas, and others. Most of them 
are now citizens of different parts of 
the territory and Wisconsin. They 
settled near where the St. Louis 
house now stands, and in the vicinity 
of Kittson's and Baker's landing. 
Owing to the arbitrary and tyranni- 
cal power which then held sway in 
the territory, they were driven from 
their homes in 1836 and '37. At 
that time, and both before and 
since, the commanding officers at 
the fort were the lords of the north. 
They ruled supreme. The citizens 
in the neighbourhood of the fort 
were liable at any time to be thrust 
into the guard-house. While the 



chief of the fort was the king, the 
subordinate officers were princes, 
and persons have been deprived of 
their liberty and imprisoned by 
those tyrants for the most trivial 
wrong or some imaginary offence. 
Some had their houses torn down ; 
others were more unfortunate, and 
had their buildings burnt. To the 
latter class Mr. Garvas belonged. 
Mr. Perry was the Abraham of 
Hennepin county. He resided in 
front of the slaughter-house, near 
the landing. He pitched his tent 
after being driven off of his first 
home on the bank of the brook be- 
tween the cave and St. Paul. Here 
he attended to his numerous flocks 
and cultivated a field, and I think 
died below St. Paul, near where the 
large hotel was burnt a year or two 
since. He was a Swiss by birth. 
At one time he owned more cattle 
than all the rest of the inhabitants 
of what is now Minnesota, if we ex- 
cept Mr. Renville." 



DASTARDLY ATTACK OF DAHKOTAHS. 391 

ice moved at the Fort, and for several days the river was 
twenty feet above low water mark. 

On the 2d of May every white person was full of joy, 
at the arrival of Captain Reeder with the steamboat St. 
Lawrence, and he proposed the first pleasure trip in a 
steamer, above the Fort, on the Mississippi. The offi- 
cers and their wives, after the long, cold, dreary winter, 
were glad to accept the invitation, and once on board, 
they made themselves merry with music and dance. 

After reaching a point within three and a half miles 
of the Falls of St. Anthony, the Captain found the cur- 
rent so strong that he deemed it prudent to return, being 
entirely unacquainted with the channel. 

Major Taliaferro had some slaves at the fort, whom 
the Indians called " black Frenchmen." On the 26th 
of May, he writes, " Capt. Plimpton wishes to purchase 
my servant girl." A few years later that girl became 
the wife of the historic Dred Scott, then a servant of 
Surgeon Emerson. 

On May 28, 1827, the Ojibway chief Flatmouth, of 
Sandy Lake, with seven warriors, and women and 
children, the whole party amounting to twenty-four, 
arrived at Fort Snelling in the morning at day-break 
Walking to the gates of the garrison, they asked the 
protection of Colonel Snelling and Taliaferro, the In- 
dian agent. They were told, that as long as they re- 
mained under the United States flag, they were secure, 
and were ordered to encamp within musket shot of the 
high stone walls of the fort. 

During the afternoon a Dahkotah, Toopunkah Zeze, 
from a village near the first rapids of the Minnesota, 
with eight others, visited the Ojibway camp. They 
were cordially received, and a feast of meat, and corn, 



392 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

and sugar, was soon made ready. The wooden platters 
emptied of their contents, they engaged in conversation, 
and whiffed the peace pipe. 

About nine o'clock in the evening they rose and de- 
parted ; but as soon as they were outside, turned and 
discharged their guns with deadly aim upon their enter- 
tainers, and ran off with a shout of satisfaction. The 
report was heard by the sentinel of the fort, and he 
cried, repeatedly, " Corporal of the guard !" and soon at 
the gates, were the Ojibways, with their women and 
the wounded, telling their tale of woe in wild and 
incoherent language. Among others, was a little girl 
about seven years old, who was pierced through both 
thighs with a bullet. 

Flat Mouth, the chief, reminded Colonel Snelling that 
he had been attacked while under the protection of the 
United States flag, and early the next morning, Captain 
Clark, with one hundred soldiers, proceeded toward 
Land's End, a trading-post of the Columbia Fur Com- 
pany, on the Minnesota, a mile above the present resi- 
dence of Franklin Steele, where the Dahkotahs were 
supposed to be. The soldiers had just left the large 
gate of the fort, when a party of Dahkotahs, in battle 
array, appeared on one of the prairie hills. After some 
parleying they turned their backs, and being pursued, 
thirty-two were captured near the trading-post. 

Colonel Snelling ordered the prisoners to be brought 
before the Ojibways, and two being pointed out as par- 
ticipants in the slaughter of the preceding night, they 
were delivered to the aggrieved party to be dealt with 
in accordance with their customs. They were led out 
to the plain in front of the gate of the fort, and when 
placed nearly without the range of the Ojibway guns, 



OJIBWAY RETALIATION. 393 

they were told to run for their lives. With the rapidity 
of deer they bounded away, but the Ojibway bullet new 
faster, and after a few steps, they fell gasping on the 
ground, and were soon lifeless. Then the savage nature 
displayed itself in all its hideousness. Women and 
children danced for joy, and placing their fingers in the 
bullet holes, from which the blood oozed, they licked 
them with delight. The men tore the scalps from the 
dead, and seemed to luxuriate in the privilege of plung- 
ing their knives through the corpses. After the execu- 
tion, the Ojibways returned to the fort, and were met 
by the colonel. He had prevented all over whom his 
authority extended from witnessing the scene, and had 
done his best to confine the excitement to the Indians. 
The same day a deputation of Dahkotah warriors re- 
ceived audience, regretting the violence that had been 
done by their young men, and agreeing to deliver up 
the ringleaders. 

At the time appointed, a son of Flat Mouth, with 
those of the Ojibway party that were not wounded, es- 
corted by United States troops, marched forth to meet 
the Dahkotah deputation, on the prairie just beyond 
the old residence of the Indian agent. With much 
solemnity two more of the guilty were handed over to 
the assaulted. One was fearless, and with firmness 
stripped himself of his clothing and ornaments, and 
distributed them. The other could not face death with 
composure. He was noted for a hideous hare-lip, and 
had a bad reputation among his fellows. In the spirit 
of a coward he prayed for life, to the mortification of 
his tribe. The same opportunity was presented to 
them as to the first, of running for their lives. At the 
first fire the coward fell a corpse ; but his brave com- 



394 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

panion, though wounded, ran on, and had nearly reached 
the goal of safety, when a second bullet killed him. 
The body of the coward now became a common object 
of loathing for both Dahkotahs and Ojibways. 

Colonel Snelling told the Ojibways that the bodies 
must be removed, and then they took the scalped Dah- 
kotahs, and dragging them by the heels, threw them off 
the bluff, into the river a hundred and fifty feet beneath. 
The dreadful scene was now over ; and a detachment 
of troops was sent with the old chief Flat Mouth, to 
escort him out of the reach of Dahkotah vengeance. 

In the fall of 1826, all the troops at Prairie du Chien 
had been removed to Fort Snelling, the commander 
taking with him two Winnebagoes that had been con- 
fined in Fort Crawford. After the soldiers left the 
Prairie, the Indians in the vicinity were quite insolent. 
About this period a bois brule* from Red river, named 
Methode, came to the Prairie to reside. In the month 
of March, 1827, he went to Painted Rock creek, a few 
miles above on the Iowa side, accompanied by his family, 
for the purpose of making maple sugar. He not re- 
turning as soon as was expected, search was instituted 
by his friends, when they found him, his children, and 
his wife with an unborn infant, nearly burned to cin- 
ders in their camp — the work of hostile savages. 

At the time of the shooting of the Dahkotahs at Fort 
Snelling, Red Bird, a distinguished Winnebago chief, 
whose residence was often on Black river, Wisconsin, 
was on a war party against the Ojibways, in which he 
was unsuccessful. In some way the Winnebagoes gained 
the impression that two of their own numbei who were 
confined at Fort Snelling, had been delivered to the 



RED BIRD'S VIOLENCE AT PRAIRIE DU CHIEN. 395 

Ojibways and scalped ; and from that hour the}' becamt 
hostile to the whites. 

On the 26th of June, 1827, Red Bird, with two other 
Indians, entered the dwelling of a trader at Prairie du 
Chien by the name o'f Lockwood, who was absent, and 
loading their guns in the kitchen, proceeded to the bed- 
room of his wife. On their entrance, she crossed the 
hall into the store, where she found Duncan Graham, a 
man of influence with the Indians, who induced them 
to leave. Thirsting for blood, they proceeded in an 
easterly direction to a place called McNair's Coulee, 
where there was an isolated log cabin, in which dwelt a 
man of mulatto and French extraction, named Gagnier. 
As Eed Bird and his companions entered, Gagnier was 
sitting on a chest, and near the window ; his wife, of 
French and Dahkotah extraction, was washing; while 
on the bed lay an infant sleeping. In the cabin there 
was also a discharged soldier. 

Treated with civility, they were asked if they would 
have something to eat. While the wife was procuring 
refreshments, she heard the click caused by the cocking 
of Eed Bird's rifle, and in the twinkling of an eye there 
was a discharge and her husband was dead. One of 
the other two Indians shot the soldier, and the third, 
named Wekaw, had his rifle wrested from him by the 
desperate wife. Unable to cope with three furious 
savages, she ran to the village and gave the alarm. 
Returning with a company of armed men, she found 
her infant with its head scalped, and neck cut, in the 
bed and still alive. Recovering from these wounds, 
the daughter still lives, and is now a grandmother. 

A little while before this murderous assault two keel- 
boats had passed Prairie du Chien, on their way to Fort 



396 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Snelling with provisions. When they reached Wapashaw 
village, on the site of the present town of Winona, they 
were ordered to come ashore by the Dahkotahs. Com- 
plying, they found themselves surrounded by Indians, 
with hostile intentions. The boatmen had no fire-arms, 
but assuming a bold mien, and a defiant voice, the cap- 
tain of the keel-boats ordered the savages to leave the 
decks, which was successful. The boats pushed on, and 
at Red Wing and Kaposia the Indians showed that they 
were not friendly, though they did not molest the boats. 
Before they started on their return from Fort Snelling, 
the men on board, amounting to thirty-two, were all 
provided with muskets, and a barrel of ball cartridges. 
When the descending keel-boats passed Wapashaw, 
the Dahkotahs were engaged in the war dance, and 
menaced them but made no attack. Below this point 
one of the boats moved in advance of the other, and 
when near the mouth of the Bad Axe the half-breeds 
on board descried hostile Indians on the banks. As 
the channel neared the shore the sixteen men on the 
first boat were greeted with the war whoop, and a vol- 
ley of rifle balls from the excited Winnebagoes, killing 
two of the crew. Rushing into their canoes, the 
Indians made the attempt to board the boat, and two 
were successful. One of these stationed himself at the 
bow of the boat, and fired with killing effect on the men 
below deck. An old sailor of the last war with Great 
Britain, called Saucy Jack, at last despatched him, and 
began to rally the fainting spirits on board. During the 
fight the boat had stuck on a sand-bar. With four 
companions, amid a shower of balls from the savages, 
he plunged into the water and pushed off the boat, and 
thus moved out of reach of the galling shots of the 



ATTACK ON KEEL-BOATS. 397 

Winnebagoes. As they floated down the river during 
the night, they heard a wail in a canoe behind them, 
the voice of a father mourning the death of the son, 
who had scaled the deck, and was now a corpse in pos- 
session of the white men. The rear boat passed the Bad 
Axe river late in the night, and escaped an attack. 

It was the day after the murder of Gagnier and Lip- 
cap, the soldier, that the first keel-boat arrived at 
Prairie du Chien, with two of their crew dead, four 
wounded, and the Indian that had been killed on the 
boat. The two dead men had been residents of the 
Prairie, and now the panic was increased. On the 
morning of the twenty-eighth of June the second keel- 
boat appeared, and among her passengers was Joseph 
Snelling, a talented son of the colonel, who wrote a 
story of deep interest, based on the facts narrated. 

At a meeting of the citizens it was resolved to repair 
old Fort Crawford, and Thomas McNair was appointed 
captain. Dirt was thrown around the bottom logs of 
the fortification to prevent its being fired, and young 
Snelling was put in command of one of the block- 
houses. On the next day a voyageur named Loyer, and 
the well known trader Duncan Graham, started through 
the interior, west of the Mississippi, with intelligence 
of the murders, to Fort Snelling. A company of 
volunteers soon arrived from Galena, and a few days 
after four companies of the fifth regiment from Fort 
Snelling, with Colonel Snelling in command. The citi- 
zens had seized De-kau-ray, a Winnebago chief, and re- 
rained him as a hostage. 

Governor Cass, at the time of these occurrences, was 
at Butte des Morts, for the purpose of negotiating a 
treaty, and, proceeding immediately to Jefferson Bar- 



398 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

racks, a large body of troops, under General Atkinson, 
were soon on their way to the scene of excitement. A 
detachment from Green Bay, under Major Whistler, 
also moved up to the portage of the Fox and Wisconsin 
rivers. The Winnebagoes were not prepared to engage 
in war with the United States, and it was decided in 
council that Eed Bird and We-Kaw should surrender 
themselves to Major Whistler. 

Colonel McKinney describes the scene in this lan- 
guage : " On the right was the band of music, a little in 
advance of the line. In front of the centre, about ten 
paces distant, were the murderers. * * * * All 
eyes were fixed on Eed Bird, and well they might be, 
for of all the Indians I ever saw, he is, without excep- 
tion, the most perfect in form, in face, and gesture. In 
height he is above six feet; straight, but without re- 
straint. His proportions are of the most exact sym- 
metry ; his very fingers are models of beauty. I never 
beheld a face that was so full of all the ennobling, and, 
at the same time, the most winning expression. 

" During my attempted analysis of his face, I could 
not but ask myself, Can this man be a murderer ? Is he 
the same who shot, scalped, and cut the throat of 
Gagnier ? There was no ornamenting of the hair after 
the Indian fashion, but it was cut after the civilized 
manner. His face was painted ; one side red, the other 
intermixed with green and white. Around his neck he 
wore a collar of blue wampum, beautifully mixed with 
white, which was sewed to a piece of cloth, the width 
of the wampum being about two inches, — while the 
claws of the wild-cat, distant from each other about a 
quarter of an inch, with their points inward, formed 
the rim of the collar. He was clothed in a Yankton 



IMPRISONMENT AND DEATH OF RED BIRD. 399 

dress, new and beautiful. The material is of dressed 
elk or deer skin, almost a pure white. ***** 
Across his breast, in a diagonal position, and bound 
tight to it, was his war pipe, brightly ornamented with 
dyed horse-hair, the feathers and bills of birds. In one 
of his hands he held the white flag, in the other the 
calumet of peace. There he stood. Not a muscle 
moved, nor was the expression of his face changed a 
particle. He and We-Kaw were told to sit down. His 
motions as he seated himself were no less graceful and 
captivating, than when he stood or walked. At this 
moment the band struck up Pleyel's Hymn. Every- 
thing was still. It was a moment of intense interest to 
all." 

The ceremony of surrender now took place. The 
Winhebagoes asked kind treatment of the prisoners, and 
begged that they might not be ironed. Major Whistler 
said in reply that he would treat them with considera- 
tion,, and Red Bird standing up said: "I am ready," 
and was immediately marched off with his accomplice 
to a tent in the rear and placed under guard. 

The prisoners having been handed over to General 
Atkinson, who had arrived, w T ere conveyed to Prairie 
du Chien, and delivered to the civil authorities. There 
they were chained and placed in close confinement, which 
so chafed the proud spirit of Red Bird, that he soon 
drooped, and at last died with a broken heart. 

In September, 1829, Rev. A. Coe and J. D. Stevens 
arrived at Fort Snelling. Agent Taliaferro treated 
them kindly, and offered the old mill and buildings at 
the Falls of St. Anthony for a Presbyterian mission 
school for the Dahkotahs, as well as the Indian farm 
opened at Lake Calhoun, and called Eatonville. 



400 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA 



CHAPTER XIX. 

In the year 1830, steps were taken for another con- 
gress of tribes at Prairie du Chien. A few weeks pre- 
vious to the convocation, a party of Dahkotahs and 
Menomonees surprised a band of Foxes, who were eat- 
ing their dinner on an island in the Mississippi, a short 
distance below the Wisconsin, and killed eight of their 
chief men. On this account the Fox tribe refused to 
be present at the council at Prairie du Chien. The 
M'dewakantonwan Dahkotahs, in a treaty made on this 
occasion, bestowed on their relatives of mixed blood that 
tract about Lake Pepin known as the half-breed tract. 1 

During this year another attempt was made to erect 
a mill on the Chippeway river, Wisconsin. In the 
month of May, workmen proceeded to the old site on 
the Menomonee. Three or four Ojibways arrived one 
night and told them if they did not leave they would 
kill them. The superintendent (Armstrong) was so 
much alarmed that he took a canoe and floated down 

1 The tract is described in said Lake Pepin and the Mississippi, 

treaty as follows : " Beginning at a about thirty-two miles to a point 

place called the Barn, below and opposite Beef or O'Beuf river, thence 

near the village of the Red Wing fifteen miles, to the Grand Encamp- 

Ohief. and running back fifteen ment, opposite the river aforesaid." 
miles, thence in a parallel line with 



HOLMES BUILDS A SAW-MILL. 401 

the river the same evening, and the workmen followed 
the next day. 

In August, one of the proprietors at Prairie du Chien 
started with other workmen ; among others, a discharged 
soldier by the name of Holmes, 1 under whose supervi- 
sion the mill was at last constructed ; and, by the sum- 
mer of the next year, had sawed about one hundred 
thousand feet of lumber. 

After the unprovoked attack on the part of the Dah- 
kotahs, which has been related, a continual border war- 
fare prevailed between them and the Ojibways until 
1831. War parties of the latter, descending the Chip- 
peway river, constantly lurked around the shores of 
Lake Pepin, in the hope of obtaining Dahkotah scalps, 
and endangered the lives of white men ascending or de- 
scending the Mississippi. 

During the month of April, 1831, the authorities at 
Washington instructed H. R. Schoolcraft, Indian agent 
at Sault St. Marie, to proceed to the Upper Mississippi, 
and use his influence to make peace between the Dah- 
kotahs and Ojibways. The expedition was composed 
of twenty-seven men, beside a few soldiers under Lieu- 
tenant Clary. 

Ascending the Mushkeg river, which enters Lake 
Superior below Bayfield, they passed Lake Kagino, and 
a chain of small lakes, until they came to the Name- 
kagon, a tributary of the St. Croix. Descending this 
stream to Lake Pukwaewa, they found a village of 
fifty-three persons under Odabossa. At this point the 
expedition divided, a part going to Ottawa Lake by a 
direct route, and a portion accompanying Mr. School- 



T his gentleman has since become an active pioneer in Minnesota. 
26 



402 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

craft down the Namekagon to its junction with the St 
Croix, and down that stream to a trading post at Yellow 
river. On the first of August, Mr. Schoolcraft held a 
council with the Ojibways at this point. 

The Indians, through one of their speakers, referred 
to an attack that had been made the previous year by 
the Dahkotahs, on a band of Ojibways and bois brules, 
in which four of their friends had been killed, and that 
the Ojibways had not been in the habit of crossing the 
boundary line mentioned in the treaty of Prairie du 
Chien. 

At the solicitation of Mr. Schoolcraft, Kabamappa, 
and Shakoba (the war chief of Snake river), consented 
to bear wampum and tobacco to the Dahkotah chiefs 
at Kaposia and Wapashaw village, and invite them ta 
renew the league of friendship. 

On the fifth of August, the two detachments of the 
expedition were re-united at Ottawa Lake, when an- 
other council was held at the trading-post with the 
Indians. 

At Lake Chetac, they found the trading-house burned, 
and village deserted; and while breakfasting on the 
shores of a little lake below this, eight canoes filled 
with a returning war party floated into the lake. They \ 
were young braves from Ottawa Lake, and had been in. 
pursuit of Dahkotahs near the mill which had recently 
been erected. On the seventh of August, the expedi- 
tion arrived at Rice Lake, the residence of a band of 
warlike Ojibways, much exposed to the Dahkotahs. 
because they were on the verge of the Dahkotah pos~ 
sessions. 

The young chief Neenaba claimed that the saw-mills 
just erected on the Red Cedar branch of the Chippeway 



NEENABA'S SPEECH. 403 

were on their lands, though the Dahkotahs had granted 
permission, for a certain consideration, to the owners. 

At the request to drop his war club, he was confused, 
and would not receive the proffered presents of a medal 
and flag until he was pressed by his young warriors. 
On the next day he came, followed by his braves, with 
the flag on one arm and the war club in the other hand, 
and stated that while he accepted the one, he did not 
drop the other. "He had reflected upon the advice 
sent by the President, and particularly that part of it 
which counselled them to sit still upon their lands, but 
while they sat still, they wished also to be certain that 
their enemies would sit still." 

After this interview, Mr. Schoolcraft visited the mills 
on the Red Cedar river, which were then in charge of 
Mr. Wallace. 

In 1832, instructions were again issued, ordering Mr. 
Schoolcraft to visit the tribes toward the sources of the 
Mississippi. Attached to the expedition, was the late 
Dr. Douglass Houghton, as botanist, geologist, and sur- 
geon, and the Rev. W. T. Boutwell, now of Washing- 
ton county, who was appointed by the American Board 
of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, to explore the 
field, to observe the condition of the Indians, and the 
practicability of establishing mission stations. The 
military escort was in command of Lieutenant James 
Allen. 

On the afternoon of the twenty-third of June, the 
Fond du Lac trading-house on the St. Louis river, 
about twenty miles from the mouth, was reached. This 
was formerly the head-quarters of the fur trade west 
of Lake Superior ; but the American Fur Company re- 
moved their depot to Sandy Lake, because of its more 



404 HISTOP r OF MINNESOTA. 

central situation. Tlr.s department of the Indian trade, 
included the posts at Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, 
Rainy Lake, Vermillion Lake, Red Lake, Pembina, Red 
Cedar, Leech, and Sandy Lakes. The value of furs 
from all these posts in 1832, was about twenty-five 
thousand dollars. 

On the twenty-first of June, the party were at La 
Pointe. The chief trader of the place, was the father 
of the late Mr. Warren, who had thirty or forty acres 
under cultivation. Among other residents, was the 
father of his wife, Cadotte, an old French trader, and 
the Rev. Sherman Hall, for some time beceasebthen a 
missionary among the Ojibways. His child was said to 
have been the first child of pure European parents born 
on the shores of Lake Superior. 

On the twenty-fifth of June, the first portage on the 
St. Louis river was made. The entire length of it is 
nine miles, and it was necessary to commence carrying 
the baggage and provisions up a very steep bluff; while 
the experienced voyageurs ascended with ease, bearing 
a bag of flour and a keg of pork, the raw recruits of 
the expedition had stumbling work. 

On the twenty-sixth, in the midst of a drenching 
rain, the men with heavy loads on their backs, waded 
through mud and water. Some Indian women who 
were assisting in the portage, carried at once a bag of 
flour, a trunk, and soldier's knapsack, surmounted by a 
nursing infant in an Indian cradle. 1 About noon of the 
next day the end of the difficult portage was reached. 

1 " When we stopped at night my were disabled, and all of them were 

men, and even the Canadians, were galled in the back by the kegs in 

literally fagged out. Two of the such a degree as to make their load* 

soldiers had snagged their feet, and very painful. It requires an expe 



r 
ENDURANCE AND STRENGTH OF SQUAWS. 405 

Heavy rains fell on the first and second of July, and 
in reaching the portage of the Savannah, some lost 
their moccasins, and some a leg of their pantaloons, 
and all were covered with mud to their waists, so that 
they were perfect "sans culottes" when they camped at 
the end of the carrying place. 

On the afternoon of July third, reached the trad- 
ing-post of Mr. Aitkin at Sandy Lake, where they 
were welcomed by the discharge of muskets, and the 
hoisting of the American flag. On the ninth, the ex- 
pedition was at Lake Winnibigoshish, and found a 
trading-post in the charge of Mr. Belanger, made of 
logs, with windows of deer skin, surrounded by a little 
garden, in which were growing tobacco, corn, peas, and 
potatoes. On the tenth they entered Cass Lake, which 
Mr. Schoolcraft visited in company with the present 
secretary of state in 1820. Here were several fine 
corn fields, which had been cultivated by Indian women. 
In one of the lodges were three Dahkotah scalps, one of 
which had been lately taken by the Leech Lake Band. 
Flat Mouth and one hundred warriors had gone forth 
to chastise the Dahkotahs for encroaching on his hunt- 
ing grounds, and meeting a party of the enemy had 
killed three and wounded others. In the affray a Cass 

rience of years to habituate men to tomed to it. I saw a small young 

carrying in this way, and the life Indian woman at the close of the 

and habits of soldiers by no means day, carry a keg of one thousand 

fit them for such labour. I had musket ball cartridges, fur a distance 

four or five Indian women, and as of one mile without resting, and 

many Indian men carrying for me, most of the distance through swamp 

and without these I could not have that was frequently over her knees, 

made half the distance. The Indian and this too, after having carried 

women carry better than the men, heavy loads all day." — Lt. Allen's 

being less indolent and more accus- Journal. 



406 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Lake Ojibway was killed, and when night came there 
was a grand scalp dance, which an eye-witness has de- 
scribed : — 

" Before I had returned to our tent, which is pitched 
but a few yards from two graves, the greater part of 
the Indians had here collected, and begun the scalp 
dance. It was led by three squaws, each bearing in 
her hand one of the recent scalps. Two or three men 
sat beating drums and singing, while old and young, 
male and female, all joined in the song. Occasionally 
all would become so animated that there would be one 
general hop, and all at the same time, throwing their 
heads back, would raise a most horrid yell, clapping 
the mouth with the hand, to render it, if possible, more 
terrific. Here were seen little boys and girls, not six 
years old, all looking on with the most intense interest, 
imitating their fathers and mothers, and participating 
in their brutal joy. Thus early do they learn, by pre- 
cept and example, to imbibe the spirit of revenge and 
war, which is fostered in their bosoms, and in after life 
stimulates them to go and perform some deed of daring 
and blood, which shall gain for themselves the like ap- 
plause. 

"A circumstance which rendered the scene not a 
little appalling, is, it was performed around the graves 
of the dead. At the head of those graves hangs an old 
scalp, some ten feet above the ground, which the winds 
have almost divested of its ornaments and its hair. 
The grass and the turf for several yards around, are 
literally destroyed, and, I presume, by their frequent 
dancing. One of the scalps I examined. The flesh 
side had apparently been smoked and rubbed with some 
material till it was pliant, after which it was painted 



ALLEN'S FIRST MAP OF ITASCA LAKE. 407 

with vermillion. A piece of wood is turned in the form 
of a horse-shoe, into which the scalp is sewed, the 
threads passing round the wood, which keeps it tight. 
Narrow pieces of cloth and ribands of various colours, 
attached to the bow, were ornamented with beads and 
feathers. A small stick, which serves for a handle to 
shake it in the air when they dance, was attached to 
the top of the bow by a string. While examining it, a 
lock of hair fell from it, which the Indian gave me, and 
which I still preserve." 1 

At two P. M., on July thirteenth, they reached Elk 
Lake, named Itasca by Mr. Schoolcraft. 2 With the ex- 
ception of traders, no white men had ever traced the 
Mississippi so far. The lake is about eight miles in 
length, and was called Elk by the Ojibways, because 
of its irregularities, resembling the horns of that ani- 
mal. Lieutenant Allen, the commander of the mili- 
tary detachment, who made the first map of this lake, 
thus speaks : — 

"From these hills, which were seldom more than 
two or three hundred feet high, we came suddenly down 
to the lake, and passed nearly through it to an island 
near its west end, where we remained one or two hours. 
We were sure that we had reached the true source of 
the great river, and a feeling of great satisfaction was 
manifested by all the party. Mr. Schoolcraft hoisted a 
flag on a high staff on the island, and left it flying. 
The lake is about seven miles long, and from one to 
three broad, but is of an irregular shape, conforming to 

1 Boutwell. syllable of the first and the final syl- 

2 It is asserted that this is a name lable of the last word, Itasca is ob- 
made up by Mr. Schoolcraft from tained; but Mrs. Eastman says, 
two Latin words, Veritas caput. It that it is the name of an Indian 
is true, that by dropping the first maiden. 



i08 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the bases of pine hills which, for a great part of its cir- 
cumference, rise abruptly from its shore. It is deep, 
cold, and very clear, and seemed to be well stocked 
with fish. Its shores show some boulders of primitive 
rock, but no rock in place. The island, the only one 
of the lake, and which I have called Schoolcraft Island, 
is one hundred and fifty yards long, fifty yards broad 
in the highest part, elevated twenty or thirty feet, over- 
grown with elm, pine, spruce, and wild cherry. There 
can be no doubt that this is the true source and fountain 
of the longest and largest branch of the Mississippi." 

Soon after sunrise, on the next day, the expedition 
turned the bows of their canoes towards the region of 
civilization. In a little while the canoes were whirling 
amid splashing rapids, and Allen's capsized. Kegs of 
pork, loaves of bread, notes of travel, compass, and 
apparatus, were soon swept out of sight. When the 
canoe-men are experienced, there is a pleasurable ex- 
citement attending the descent of such rapids. 

On the afternoon of this day they passed the Dahko- 
tah embankments, which are holes in the earth, where 
a war party lay in wait for Ojibways descending the 
rapids,, to wmich allusion has been made in a previous 
chapter. At ten o'clock at night Leech Lake was 
reached. In the morning they were welcomed by a 
salute from the Indians. The chief of the band was 
Aishkebuggekozh, or Flat Mouth, whose party suffered 
the dastardly assault at Fort Snelling in 1827. He 
occupied a log-cabin, twenty by twenty-five feet, which 
had been presented to him by a trader. He possessed 
cups, saucers, knives, and forks of European manufac- 
ture. At one end of the eating-hall were hung his flags, 
medals, gun, and scalping knife. Bare-legged and with 



BOUTWELL'S GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION. 409 

bare feet, the old chief received his visiters with dignity. 
He was surrounded by about forty warriors, with stand- 
ing feathers around their head, and fox tails around 
their heels. The whole band consisted at that time of 
over seven hundred men, women and children, and many 
were vaccinated by Dr. Houghton. 

On the twenty-second of July, it being Sunday, the 
party remained at Baker's trading-post, about fifteen 
miles below the mouth of the Crow Wing, and here 
they learned from a small newspaper, which here 
reached them, concerning the Black Hawk difficulties 
in Wisconsin. At eight, on Monday morning, they 
arrived at Little Falls. Says the Rev. Mr. Boutwell, 
in his journal : — 

" At eight we reached the Little Falls. Instead of 
making a short portage here, as is usual, the water being 
sufficiently high to clear the canoe from stones, we only 
put into the current and let her drive. The stream is 
full of small islands, many of which are covered with a 
beautiful growth of elm, maple, butternut, and white 
walnut. The country here is prairie, extending as far 
as the eye can reach, with here and there a clump 
of oaks, which at a distance looks like some old New 
England orchard. It is the most interesting and inviting 
tract of country I have ever seen. If there is anything 
that can meet the wishes, and fill the soul of man with 
gratitude, it is found here. What would require the 
labour of years, in preparing the land for cultivation in 
many of the old states, is here all prepared to the hand. 
As far as the eye can reach, is one continued field of 
grass and flowers, waving in the passing breeze, exhibit- 
ing the appearance of a country which has been culti- 
vated for centuries, but now deserted of its inhabitants. 



4iU HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

The gentle swells, which are seen here and there, give 
a pleasing variety. The soil is apparently easy of cul- 
tivation, — a black earth and a mixture of black sand. 
Nothing can be more picturesque or grand, than the 
high banks at a distance, rising before you as you de- 
scend. The islands, in the stream, are most of them 
alluvial, a soil of the richest quality. 

" We have marched thirteen hours and a half to-day, 
at the rate of ten miles per hour, and are encamped this 
evening in the dominions of the Sioux, though we have 
as yet seen none. 

" Embarked at five next morning, and marched till 
twelve, when we reached the Falls of St. Anthony, nine 
miles above the mouth of the St. Peter's. Our govern- 
ment have here a saw-mill and grist-mill on the west 
bank of the Mississippi, and also have a large farm. 
The soldiers are here cutting the hay. For beauty, the 
country around exceeds all that I can say. These falls 
are an interesting object to look at, but there is nothing 
about them that fills one with awe, as do the Falls of 
Niagara. The stream is divided in about its centre by 
a bluff of rocks covered with a few trees. The perpen- 
dicular fall is perhaps twenty feet on each side of this 
bluff, at the foot of which there is a shoot of some ten 
or fifteen feet more in a descent. 

" A short portage was made around the falls, when 
we again embarked in the rapids, and in about an hour 
reached Fort Snelling. This post is located at the junc- 
tion of the St. Peter's with the Mississippi. It stands 
on a high bluff, rising on the north, nearly three hun- 
dred feet above the water. The walls of the fort, and 
of most of the buildings, are of stone. The tower com- 
mands an extensive and beautiful view of the adjacent 



EXPEDITION ARRIVES AT FORT SNELLING. 411 

country, and of the Mississippi and St. Peter's rivers. 
The officers visited us at our tents, invited us to their 
quarters, and treated us with much kindness and 
attention. 

" After Mr. Schoolcraft had stated to three or four 
of the principal Sioux chiefs who had been requested 
to visit him, the object of his tour, and mentioned the 
complaints which the Ojibwas brought against them 
for breaking the treaties of Prairie du Chien and Fond 
du Lac, Little Crow rose and replied, that he recollected 
those treaties, when they smoked the pipe, and all agreed 
to eat and drink out of the same dish. He wished the 
line to be drawn between them and the Ojibwas ; the 
sooner it was fixed the better. He alluded to the late 
war party from Leech Lake, which had killed two of 
his nephews, and were now dancing around their scalps ; 
but he did not complain, nor would he go and revenge 
their death. He denied that the Sioux were in league 
with the Sacs and Foxes. Black Dog, and the Man- 
who-floats-on-the-water, also spoke in much the same 
manner." 

After the expedition left Fort Snelling Mr. School- 
craft pushed ahead, and proceeded without the military 
escort, by way of the St. Croix to Lake Superior. Near 
the Falls of St. Croix he met Joseph E. Brown, who 
had been trading at that point, but was now on his way 
to establish a new post at the mouth of the river. 

Lieutenant Allen was sorely displeased with the sum- 
mary manner in which Mr. Schoolcraft left him, and in 
his published report gives full expression to his senti- 
ments. 

Early in the spring of 1832, the noted Sauk chief, 
Black Hawk, raised the British flag, and ascended the 



412 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Mississippi with hostile intentions against the frontier 
settlers. General Atkinson, in the latter part of May, 
sent an express from Dixon, Illinois, to Prairie du Chien, 
requesting the Indian agent to procure the services of 
the Dahkotahs as allies of the United States troops. 

On the thirtieth of May, John Marsh, who had accom- 
panied the troops to Fort Snelling in 1819, and Burnett, 
sub-agent at Prairie du Chien, left that place in a canoe 
paddled by eight men, to secure the aid of the Dahko- 
tahs. On their way they stopped at the Winnebago 
village at La Crosse, to inquire if any were willing to 
join General Atkinson's army on Rock River ; Winnie- 
shiek opposed the measure, but the young men agreed 
to accompany them on their return. 

On the first of June, Marsh and Burnett were at 
Wapashaw Prairie, and found the Dahkotahs fully pre- 
pared to go to war against their old enemies. In six 
days the commissioners returned to the Prairie with 
eighty Dahkotah and twenty Winnebago warriors. 

Marsh, the Dahkotah interpreter, and W. S. Hamilton, 
marched with the Dahkotahs toward the Pecatonica, 
and, arriving there the day of the skirmish between 
General Dodge and the Sauks and Foxes, they gloated 
over the corpses of their enemies, and, dancing the scalp 
dance, cut them to pieces. 

On the twenty-first of July General Dodge met Black 
Hawk near an old Sauk village on the Wisconsin and 
routed him, he retreating north of the Wisconsin, in 
direction of the Mississippi. As soon as the intelligence 
of Black Hawk's retreat reached Prairie du Chien, Cap- 
tain Loomis, now colonel of the 5th regiment United 
States Infantry, hired the steamboat Enterprise, to pro- 
ceed to La Crosse, and bring down any Winnebagoes 



BATTLE OF BAD AXE. 413 

that might be there, lest they should assist Black Hawk 
in crossing the river. On the thirtieth of July the Win- 
nebagoes and their canoes were at Fort Crawford. 

On the first of August, Loomis, one of the officers at 
Fort Crawford, hired a faster steamboat, called the 
" Warrior," to ascend the Mississippi. When they 
came to the mouth of the Bad Axe they discovered Black 
Hawk's party, who had just arrived with wearied limbs, 
and diseased and famished bodies. As the steamer 
approached he told his braves not to shoot, and taking 
a piece of white cotton placed it on a pole, and signified 
a desire to come on board ; but about this time there 
was a discharge from the six-pounder on board of the 
boat, which was returned by Black Hawk's braves. 

The steamboat returned that evening to Prairie du 
Chien, but arrived again the next day, and found that 
a battle had commenced between the Indians and the 
regular troops, who had come up to them by land a few 
hours before. Some of the Indians had fled to the 
islands of the Mississippi near the Bad Axe, and they 
were fired at by those on the steamboat. 

Batteaux were also sent to the main land to receive 
and transport the troops of Colonel Z. Taylor and Major 
Bliss to one of the islands, where a severe fight took 
place, during which every Indian was killed but one, 
who made his escape by swimming. 1 

During the fight. General Atkinson came on board of 
the steamer and remained until the close of the battle. 
After three hours the battle ended, which was a slaugh- 
ter rather than a victory. 

A writer, in the nearest newspaper, 2 four days after, 

1 Narrative of Captain Este, Black Hawk, and others. 

2 Galena Gazette. 



414 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

says, " When the Indians were driven to the bank of 
the Mississippi, some hundreds of men, women, and 
children, plunged into the river, and hoped by diving 
to escape the bullets of our guns. Very few, however, 
escaped our sharp-shooters." 

Among those killed on the Wisconsin shore was a 
mother. Her infant was feeding on her breast, and the 
bullet had passed through and broken the arm of the 
child, and penetrated to the heart of the parent. When 
discovered, the child was alive ; it survived the wound, 
which was attended to by one of the surgeons of the 
volunteer troops. 

Those Indians that escaped the fire from the main 
shore and steamboat, were met on the west side of the 
Mississippi by the scalping knife of the Dahkotahs. 
Wapashaw, with a party of warriors, had arrived during 
the fight, and they were ordered to pursue those who 
should escape. Black Hawk, perceiving that all was lost, 
in forlorn condition fled to the Winnebago village at La 
Crosse, where the squaws gave him a dress of white deer 
skin. He was accompanied by the Winnebago chief, 
One-eyed Dekorrah, to Prairie du Chien, and delivered 
up to the Americans on the morning of August twenty- 
seventh. 

Black Hawk, on that occasion, is said to have made 
the following speech : — 

" My warriors fell around me ; it began to look dis- 
mal. I saw my evil day at hand. The sun rose clear 
on us in the morning, and at night it sunk in a dark 
cloud, and looked like a ball of fire. This was the last 
sun that shone on Black Hawk. He is now a prisoner 
to the white man. But he can stand the torture. He 
is not afraid of death. He is no coward. Black Hawk 



BLACK HAWK'S SPEECH. 415 

is an Indian; he has done nothing of which an Indian 
need to be ashamed. He has fought the battles of his 
country against the white men, who came year after 
year to cheat them and take away their lands. You 
know the cause of our making war — it is known to all 
white men — they ought to be ashamed of it. The white 
men despise the Indians, and drive them from their 
homes. But the Indians are not deceitful. The white 
men speak bad of the Indian, and look at him spite- 
fully. But the Indian does not tell lies. Indians do 
not steal. Black Hawk is satisfied. He will go to the 
world of spirits contented. He has done his duty — his 
Father will meet him and reward him. The white men 
do not scalp the head, but they do worse, they poison 
the heart — it is not pure with them. Farewell to my 
nation ! Farewell to Black Hawk !" 

During the year of the Black Hawk war, the first 
regular land mail was carried between Fort Crawford 
and Fort Snelling. The mail carrier was a soldier of 
the United States' army, and his journeys were on foot. 
Leaving Prairie du Chien, he crossed to the Iowa side, 
and then continued on the western side till he came to 
Fort Snelling. He occupied fourteen days in going and 
returning, and carried the mail for a period of twelve 
months. 1 At that time there were no white families in 
the country. The entire population, beside the soldiers 
of the fort, were Indian traders. 2 

1 Smith's History of Wisconsin, Louis Provenqalle, Traverse des- 
vol. i. p. 289. Sioux. 

2 Licensed Indian Traders in J. B. Faribault, Little Rapids of 
Minnesota, 1833-1834:— Minnesota. 

Alexis Baillv, Mendota. Hazen Moores, Lac Traverse. 

J. R. Brown, Oliver's Grove, Joseph Renville, Lac qui Parle. 
Mouth of the St. Croix. B. F. Baker, Fort Snelling. 



416 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



In the year 1805, Upper Louisiana was organized as 
Missouri Territory ; and, after the state of that name, 
was, in 1820, admitted into the Union, the territory 
beyond its northern boundary, comprising Iowa, and all 
of Minnesota west of the Mississippi river, was without 
any organized government. In 1834, the inhabitants 
petitioned Congress to give them a territorial organi- 
zation, or attach them to Michigan. For the present it 
was thought better to pursue the latter course. 

In 1836, the territory of Wisconsin was organized, 
comprising all of Michigan west of the lake of that 
name ; and, in 1838, Iowa was formed, embracing all 
of the old Missouri Territory beyond the north line of 
the state of that name. 

During the year 1835, an artist of some notoriety, 
George Catlin, visited Minnesota, and made many 
sketches which were truthful, and subsequently pub- 
lished many statements which were unreliable. 

Featherstonhaugh, in company with Professor Mather, 
under the direction of the United States government, 
made a slight geological survey of the valley of the 
Minnesota. 

After Featherstonhaugh returned to England, his 
native land, he published a work entitled " Canoe voy- 
age up the Minnaysotar," which is only remarkable for its 



J. Renville, Jr., Little Rock. 
P. Prescott, Traverse des Sioux. 
James Welles, Little Rapids. 
Joseph R. Brown, Mouth of Chip- 
peway. 
W. A. Aitkin, Fond du Lac. 
Alfred Aitkin, Sandy Lake. 
-John Aitkin, Prairie Percee. 
Ambrose Devenport, Gull Lake. 



Wm. Devenport, Leech Lake. 
A. Morrison, Mille Lac. 
George Bonga, Lac Platte. 
J. H. Fairbanks, Red Cedar Lake. 
Louis Dufault, Red Lake. 
Wm. Stitt, Lower Red Cedar Lake. 
L. M. Warren, La Pointe, Wis. 
Chas. Wolfborup, Yellow Lake. 



NICOLLET ARRIVES IN MINNESOTA. 



417 



vulgarity, and its attack upon the character of gentle- 
men who did not show him the attention which he 
thought he should have received. 

The next year, another foreign gentleman visited the 
country, who was the antipodes to him whom we have 
just noticed. His name will always be honoured in 
the university and colleges of the state ; and his career 
will incite others to the culture of those exact sciences, 
which are so useful in their results to the practical man. 

Jean N. Nicollet, 1 with letters of introduction, having 
arrived in Minnesota, on the twenty-sixth of July, 1836, 



1 Jean N. Nicollet was born in the 
year 1790, at Cluses, a small town, 
capital of Fansigny in Savoie. His 
parents were poor, and he was con- 
sequently reduced to the necessity 
of gaining a subsistence by playing 
upon the flute and violin, before he 
had reached the tender age of ten 
years. He was then apprenticed to 
a watchmaker, and remained with 
him until he was eighteen years old, 
when he removed to Chambry, the 
capital of Savoie, where he followed 
his occupation, at the same time 
prosecuting his studies in mathe- 
matics, for his proficiency in which 
science he received a prize. From 
Chambry he returned to Cluses, and 
there gave lessons in mathematics, 
he himself receiving instruction in 
Latin and other languages. He 
continued this course of life for about 
two years, when he weDt to Paris 
and was admitted in the first class 
of L'Ecole Normale, and soon after- 
wards he was placed in charge of 
the mathematical course in the col- 
lege of " Louis Le Grand." 

It was in 1818 that Nicollet pub- 
27 



lished his celebrated letter to M. 
Outrequin Banquier, "on assurances 
having for their basis, the probable 
duration of human life." 

From 1819 and 1820, may be dated 
the commencement of his astronomi- 
cal labours. 

On the twenty-first of January, 
1821, between six and seven in the 
evening, he discovered a comet in 
the constellation of Pegasus (seen 
on the same day and at the same 
hour by Pons at Marseilles), and 
from his own observations, and those 
of the astronomers and the observa- 
tory, he completed its parabolic 
elements. 

Previous to 1825, M. Nicollet re- 
ceived the decoration of the Legion 
of Honour, and had also been at- 
tached as Professor, to the Royal 
College of " Louis Le Grand." 

Having been unfortunate in spec- 
ulations which involved others in 
pecuniary loss, he came to the United 
States in 1832 ; poor, but honest. — 
See sketch in Annals Minnesota Hist. 
Soc, No. iv. 1853. 



418 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

left Fort Snelling with a French trader, named Fron- 
chet, to explore the sources of the Mississippi. While at 
the Falls of St. Anthony, the Dahkotahs pilfered some of 
his provisions, but writing back to the fort for another 
supply, he ascended the Mississippi, telescope in hand, 
and with a trustful, child-like spirit, hoped with Sir 
Isaac Newton, to gather a few pebbles from the great 
ocean of truth. After reaching Crow Wing river, he 
entered its mouth, and by way of Gull river and lake, 
he reached Leech Lake, the abode of the Pillagers. 
When the savages found that he was nothing but a 
poor scholar, with neither medals, nor beef, nor flags to 
present, and constantly peeping through a tube into 
the heavens, they became very unruly. 

The Rev. Mr. Boutwell, whose mission house was on 
the opposite side of the lake, hearing the shouts and 
drumming of the Indians, came over as soon as the 
wind which had been blowing for several days, would 
allow the passage of his canoe. His arrival was very 
grateful to Nicollet, who says: "On the fourth day, 
however, he arrived, and although totally unknown to 
each other previously, a sympathy of feeling arose, 
growing out of the precarious circumstances under 
which we were both placed, and to which he had been 
much longer exposed than myself. This feeling, from 
the kind attentions he paid me, soon ripened into affec- 
tionate gratitude." 

Leaving Leech Lake with an Indian, Fronchet aud 
Francis Brunet, a Canadian trader of that post, " a man 
six feet three inches in height, a giant of great strength, 
and at the same time full of the milk of human kind- 
ness," he proceeded toward Itasca Lake. With the sex- 
tant on his back, thrown over like a knapsack, a ba~ 



THE ASTRONOMER IN THE WILDERNESS. 419 

rometer and cloak on his left shoulder, a portfolio under 
his arm, and a basket in hand holding thermometer, 
chronometer, and compass, he followed his guides over 
the necessary portages. After the usual trials of an 
inexperienced traveller, he pitched his tent on School- 
craft's Island, in Lake Itasca, and proceeded to use his 
telescope and instruments. 

Continuing his explorations beyond those of Lieut. 
Allen and Schoolcraft, he entered on the twenty-ninth 
of August, a tributary of the west bay of the lake, 
two or three feet in depth, and from fifteen to twenty 
feet in width. While the previous explorers had passed 
but one or two hours at Itasca Lake, he stayed three 
days with complete scientific apparatus, and sought the 
sources of the rivulets that feed the lake. With great 
appropriateness has his claim been recognised by the 
people of Minnesota, as the individual who completed 
the exploration of the Mississippi, by giving his name 
to a county. 

Keturning to Fort Snelling in the beginning of Octo- 
ber, he occupied a room at the stone agency house, a 
quarter of a mile beyond the gate, where he passed the 
time in studying the Dahkotah. The latter portion of 
the winter Nicollet was a guest of Mr. Sibley, at Men- 
dota. That gentleman says : — 

" A portion of the winter following was spent by him 
at my house, and it is hardly necessary to state that I 
found in him a most instructive companion. His devo- 
tion to his studies was intense and unremitting, and I 
frequently expostulated with him upon his imprudence 
in thus over-tasking the strength of his delicate frame, 
but with little effect. When the weather was auspi- 
cious, telescope in hand, he would spend hours of the 



420 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



cold winter nights of our high latitude in astral observa- 
tions. He continued his labours until the opening of 
spring called him to encounter the privations and suf- 
ferings necessarily attendant upon a long sojourn in the 
wilderness. Such was the enthusiasm of his nature, 
that he submitted to all physical inconveniences with- 
out murmuring, and as of no moment when compared 
with the magnitude of the enterprise in which he was 
engaged." 

Going to Washington, after his tour of 1836-37, he 
was honoured with a commission from the United States 
government, and John C. Fremont was detailed as his 
assistant. Ascending the Missouri river in a steamboat, 
to Fort Pierre, he travelled through the interior of Min- 
nesota Territory, visiting the Red Pipe Stone Quarry, 
which he accurately describes, Minne Wakan, or Devil's 
Lake, and other important localities. 

The map which he constructed, and the astronomical 
observations which he made, were invaluable to the 
country.^ 



1 Hon. H. H. Sibley, in his notice 
of Nicollet, says : — 

"His health was so seriously 
affected after his return to Washing- 
ton in 1839, that from that time for- 
ward he was incapacitated from de- 
voting himself to the accomplishment 
of his work as exclusively as he had 
previously done. Still he laboured, 
but it was with depressed spirits and 
blighted hopes. He had long as- 
pired to a membership in the Aca- 
demy of Sciences of Paris. His long 
continued devotion and valuable 
contributions to the cause of science, 
and his correct deportment as a 



gentleman, alike entitled him to such 
a distinction. But his enemies were 
numerous and influential, and when 
his name was presented in accord- 
ance with a previous nomination, to 
fill a vacancy, he was black-balled 
and rejected. This last blow was 
mortal. True, he strove against the 
incurable melancholy which had 
fastened itself upon him, but his 
struggles waxed more and more 
faint, until death put a period to his 
sufferings on the eighteenth Sep- 
tember, 1844. 

" Even when he was aware that 
his dissolution was near at hand, his 



NICOLLET'S DEATH.— AITKIN KILLED. 



421 



The Leech Lake Ojibways this year killed the trader 1 
in charge of the American Fur Company's post, at that 
point, and many threatened to drive away the Rev. Mr. 
Boutwell, and manifested bitter hostility. 



thoughts reverted back to the days 
when he roamed along the valley of 
the Minnesota river. It was my 
fortune to meet him for the last time 
in the year 1842 in Washington City. 
A short time before his death I re- 
ceived a kind but mournful letter 
from him, in which he adverted to 
the fact that his days were numbered, 
but at the same time he expressed a 
hope that he would have strength 
sufficient to enable him to make his 
way to our country, that he might 
yield up his breath and be interred 
on the banks of his beloved stream. 
" It would have been gratifying to 
his friends to know that the soil of 
the region which had employed so 
much of his time and scientific re- 
search, had received his mortal re- 



mains into his bosom, but they were 
denied this melancholy satisfaction. 
He sleeps beneath the sod far away, 
in the vicinity of the capital of the 
nation, but his name will continue 
to be cherished in Minnesota as one 
of its early explorers, and one of its 
best friends. The astronomer, the 
geologist, and the christian gentle- 
man, Jean N. Nicollet, will long be 
remembered in connection with the 
history of the North-west. 

" Time shall quench full many 
A people's records, and a hero's acts. 
Sweep empire after empire into nothing ; 
But even then shall spare this deed of thine. 
And hold it up, a problem few dare imitate, 
And none despise." 

1 Alfred Aitkin. 



422 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The history of missions among the roving tribes of 
Minnesota and the regions adjacent, must necessarily be 
a dark and saddening page. They are all bands with- 
out law. 

The frontispiece of the first volume of the voyages 
of Baron La Hontan to the Lakes of the West, pub- 
lished more than one hundred and fifty years ago, is an 
engraving of an Indian, attired for war, with a bow in 
one hand and arrow in the other, a statute book under 
one foot, and a crown and sceptre beneath the othei. 
Over his head is the appropriate motto " Et leges, et 
sceptra terit :" On laws and sceptres he tramples. 

The savages of the north-west, as has been shown, 
have nothing that corresponds to a civilized government. 
Their chiefs hold their influence by a trimming and 
somersaulting which would put the most adroit politi- 
cian to the blush. Society takes no • cognisance of 
offences, and each man revenges his real or imaginary 
wrongs. If one is killed, the relative in return goes 
and kills the person who committed the act. They also 
hold their property in common. If, on a hunting expe- 
dition, a man shoots a deer, he does not claim it as pri- 
vate property, but it is shared with all present. If an 



JESUITS PERMITTED HEATHEN SACRIFICES. 423 

industrious person should settle down and cultivate a 
field of corn and potatoes, custom requires that he 
should share it with the idler and the passer-by. 

The aversion to labour is such that the men ordi- 
narily feel it an insult to be urged to work. Toil is 
only becoming to women. In addition to these preju- 
dices, when not hunting for wild beasts, they, with the 
ferocity of wild beasts, hunt for the scalps of their wild 
neighbours. There is scarcely a large plain in Minne- 
sota that has not been an Aceldama. 

The youth from his earliest childhood is trained to 
delight in war. Bancroft, catching the enthusiasm of 
the narratives of the early Jesuits, depicts, in language 
which glows, their missions to the North-west ; yet it is 
erroneous to suppose that they exercised any permanent 
influence on the Aborigines. 

Fond of novelty and attention, the untutored children 
of the forest for a little while were interested in the 
pictures and vestments and tales of the " black gown," 
but they at length grew weary. Marquette, while at 
La Pointe on Lake Superior, made a fatal mistake as a 
minister of Christianity. In his narrative he says that 
he allowed the Ojibways to retain such sacrifices to ima- 
ginary spirits as he thought were harmless, as if it was 
possible to serve God and Manitou. After he was 
driven from the shores of Lake Superior, no further 
attempt was made to elevate the Aborigines of that 
region, until the arrival of Protestant missionaries more 
than a century subsequent. 

The devout Romanist, Shea, in his interesting history 
of Catholic missions, speaking of the Dahkotahs remarks 
that, " Father Menard had projected a Sioux mission; 
Marquette, Allouez, Druilletes, all entertained hopes of 



424 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

realizing it, and had some intercourse with that nation, 
but none of them ever succeeded in establishing a mis- 
sion." After the American Fur Company was formed, 
the island of Mackinaw became the residence of the 
principal agent for the North-west. 

In the month of June of the year 1820, the Kev. 
Dr. Morse, father of the inventor of the Morseograph, 1 
visited the spot, and preached the first Protestant ser- 
mon ever delivered in this portion of the North-west. 
He became quite interested in the condition of traders 
and natives; and in consequence of his statements, a 
Presbyterian Missionary Society in the state of New 
York, sent a graduate of Union College, the Rev. W. 
M. Ferry, in 1822, to explore the field. In October, 
1823, with his wife, he commenced a school, which,, 
before the close of the year, contained twelve Indian 
children. 

Mackinaw being easy of access to the Indians of the 
Upper Lakes, and the Upper Mississippi, the American 
Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, who had 
assumed the expense, determined to make it a central 
station, at which there should be a large boarding-school, 
composed of children collected from all the North-west- 
ern tribes, who were expected to remain long enough to 
acquire a common school education, and a knowledge of 
manual labour. Mechanics' shops and gardens were 
provided for the lads, and the girls were trained for 
household duties. The school, for many years, succeeded 
admirably; and gained the confidence of traders and 
chiefs. At times there were nearly two hundred pupils 
present, representatives of the Ottawas, Ojibways, Dah- 

1 This word is a novelty found at the head of the telegraphic reporta 
of the Philadelphia Public Ledger. 



HAPPY INFLUENCE OF MACKINAW SCHOOL. 425 

ko talis, Winnebagoes, Pottowatt amies, Knistenoes, Sauks, 
Foxes, and Menomonees. There are those now in 
Minnesota, surrounded by all the comforts of civiliza- 
tion, who are indebted to this school for their entire 
education. After a series of years, the plan was modi- 
fied, the school limited to fifty, and smaller stations 
commenced in the region between Lake Superior and 
the Mississippi. 

During the summer of 1830, Mr. Warren, the father 
of the late bois brule William Warren, came to Macki- 
naw, with an extra boat, for the purpose of taking a 
missionary to his post at La Pointe. As there were no 
ordained ministers that could be spared, the teacher of 
the boys' school, Mr. Frederic Ayer, now of Belle Prai- 
rie, with one of the scholars as an interpreter, returned 
with the trader to La Pointe, for the purpose of explor- 
ing the field. 

After surveying the country, Mr. Ayer returned to 
Mackinaw ; but in August of the next year, in com- 
pany with a graduate of Dartmouth College, the Rev. 
Sherman Hall and wife, left with the intention of estab- 
lishing a permanent mission among the Ojibways. The 
brigade with which they travelled consisted of five 
boats and about seventy persons. The following ex- 
tracts from the journal 1 of the first Protestant minister 
among the Ojibways of the far west, may be perused 
with interest : — 

"August fifth, 1831. The manner of travelling on 
the upper waters of the great lakes, is with open canoes 
and batteaux. The former are made in the Indian 
style, the materials of which are the bark of the white 
birch, and the wood of the white cedar. The cedar 

1 Rev. Sherman Hall. 



426 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

forms the ribbing, and the bark the part which comes 
in contact with the water. These are made of various 
sizes, from ten to thirty feet in length. The largest 
are sufficiently strong to carry from two to three tons 
of lading. They are propelled with the paddle; and 
when well built and well manned, without lading, will 
go from eighty to one hundred miles in a day, in calm 
weather. 

" Batteaux are light-made boats, about forty feet in 
length, and ten or twelve feet wide at the centre, capa- 
ble of carrying about five tons burden each, and are 
rowed by six or seven men. They have no deck. 
Upon articles of lading, with which the boat is filled, 
is the place for the passengers, who have no other seats 
than they can form for themselves, out of their travel- 
ling trunks, boxes, beds, etc. On these they place 
themselves in any position which necessity may require, 
or convenience suggest, with very little regard to grace- 
fulness of position. Such is the vehicle which is to 
convey us to the place of our destination. In the small 
compass of this boat we have to find room for eleven 
persons, including our family and our men, one of whom 
is an Indian, and four are Frenchmen. 

" A person travelling in this region, is obliged to sub- 
mit to many inconveniences. Here the traveller must 
take his bed, his house, his provisions, and his utensils 
to cook them with, along with him, or consent to sleep 
in the open air on the ground, and to subsist on what 
the woods and the waters may chance to afford. In 
short, if he would have anything to make himself com- 
fortable, he must provide himself with it before he 
leaves home. There are no New England taverns here, 
at which the traveller can rest when he is weary, and 



CAMPING FOR THE NIGHT. 427 

find supplies for all his wants. Journeys are frequent. 
In this country, people think those near neighbours 
who live two hundred or three hundred miles distant. 
A journey of this length, even in the dead of winter, 
is no more accounted of here, than a ride from one city 
to another on the sea-coast of the United States, though 
he who performs it must take his provision and his 
snow shoes, and march without a track through the 
unbroken wilderness. 

"At night our tent is pitched at some convenient 
place on the shore. After the tent is raised, a painted 
cloth is spread within it on the ground. This forms a 
kind of flooring. On this a carpet of Indian mats, 
made of a kind of coarse grass or rush, which answers 
the triple purpose of a carpet, a table, and a bedstead. 
The bed is composed of several thicknesses of blankets, 
coverlets, or anything else one may choose to carry for 
this purpose, with a sufficient quantity of other clothes 
for covering. Each family of travellers has a willow 
basket, with a lock and key, sufficiently capacious to 
hold from one to two bushels, of close texture, which is 
covered with a swinging lid. This basket answers the 
purpose of a pantry. This is divided into various de- 
partments in the inside, for meat, tea, bread, coffee, and 
dishes. The cooking is done without, in the open air. 
With such accommodations a journey of several hun- 
dred miles may be performed with tolerable comfort, 
though at the expense of some inconveniences. 

" August thirtieth. After sailing thirty leagues in a 
day and a half, we arrived at La Pointe, the place of 
our destination, about noon to-day, all heartily glad to 
find a resting place, and a shelter from the storm and 
cold. We were agreeably disappointed on finding the 



428 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

place so much* more pleasant than we had anticipated. 
As we approached it, it appeared like a small village. 
There are several houses, stores, barns, and out-build- 
ings about the establishment, and forty or fifty acres of 
land under cultivation. 

" September first. This evening we cooked our first 
meal, and united together around the family altar in 
our new abode. We returned thanks to God for his 
goodness in preserving us and bringing us to this place, 
as we had prayed, and besought his blessing on our 
future labours." 

Mr. Hall immediately established a school for child- 
ren, and placed it in charge of Mr. Ayer. 

The next year, at the urgent solicitation of the trader, 
Mr. Aitkin, Mr. Ayer went to Sandy Lake and opened a 
school for the children of voyageurs and Indians. 

The Kev. Mr. Boutwell, a graduate of Dartmouth ; in 
the summer of 1832, after his tour with H. K. School- 
craft, became a colleague of Mr. Hall at La Pointe, and 
took charge of the school. 

In the month of September, 1832, the Kev. Sherman 
Hall made an exploring tour to Lac du Flambeau, in 
North-western Wisconsin, and reached the trading-post 
of Charles H. Oakes, at that place, on the twentieth of 
the month. His journal is instructive : — 

" September eleventh, 1832. I left La Pointe for Lac 
du Flambeau, accompanied by one man to carry my 
provisions and baggage. Our journey was partly by 
water and partly by land, and much of the way through 
dense forests of tall and heavy timber. Our road was 
a small foot-path, which has been formed by those who 
make this wilderness their highway to the interior. The 
ground in this great forest is not as level as much of the 



REV. S. HALL VISITS OAKES' TRADING HOUSE. 429 

western country. We crossed no high hills, but the 
surface of the country was continually undulating. The 
soil appeared to be of excellent quality, and capable of 
furnishing the means of subsistence for a dense popula- 
tion, if it should be cleared of its present heavy burden 
of timber, and suitably tilled. It is not stony, though 
stones are to be found nearly all the way. The country 
seems to be well watered with clear transparent streams." 

Crossing Forty-five Mile Portage, between Montreal 
river and Portage Lake, at the same time that the gen- 
tleman engaged in the fur trade at Lac du Flambeau 
was conveying his goods to that post, Mr. Hall describes 
the laborious method of transportation, which is neces- 
sarily resorted to in those uncultivated and almost deso- 
late regions. 

"All the goods for this department of the Indian 
trade, together with a considerable quantity of provi- 
sions, are carried across this portage on the backs of 
men. Not a pound of flour, or salt, or butter, or pork, 
or scarcely any other article of living consumed at the 
post, except vegetables, a little corn, wild rice, and fish, 
and a small quantity of wild meat, can be obtained in 
any other manner. All the tobacco, powder, shot, and 
balls, used in the trade, and every heavy utensil for 
household use, and implements for cultivating the 
ground, which cannot be made by unskilful mechanics 
on the spot, all the nails and glass for building, and the 
tools necessary for mechanical purposes, must all find 
their way through these forests in the same manner. 
On the other hand, all the furs and peltries collected in 
the department, many of which are brought some hun- 
dreds of miles before they reach Lac du Flambeau, are 



430 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

conveyed to market over the same road, and by the 
same kind of conveyance. 

" The goods are obtained at Mackinaw, and brought 
through the lake, till they enter the Montreal river, a 
distance of five or six hundred miles, in boats rowed by 
men. At the commencement of the portage, they are 
put up into packs or bales, convenient for carrying, 
which, in the language of the country, are termed 
pieces. Each piece is allowed to weigh eighty pounds. 
A barrel of flour is put into two bags, and each is con- 
sidered a piece. A keg of pork or a keg of gunpowder 
is considered also a piece, and a bushel and a half of 
corn. Two of these pieces constitute each man's load. 
The carrier uses a collar, which is composed of a strap 
of leather about three inches wide in the middle, to 
which smaller straps are attached of a sufficient length 
to tie round the object to be carried. These straps are 
tied round each end of the piece, which is then swung 
upon the back, the lower part resting about on the loins, 
and the collar is brought over the top of the head. The 
person, when he takes his load, inclines a little forward, 
so that it rests considerably on the back, and draws but 
gently on the collar suspended across the head. After 
the first piece is thus swung on the back, the second is 
taken up and laid on the top of it, reaching, if it be 
large, nearly to the top of the head. I was surprised 
to see with what ease these men, after they had sus- 
pended the first piece, would raise up the second and 
place it on the top of it. The party consisted of ten 
men, and each man had ten pieces, or five loads to carry 
across the portage. They keep the whole of the goods 
together ; that is, each one takes one load and marches 
with it, the distance of one-half or one-third of a mile, 



REV. MR. BOUT WELL'S MISSION AT LEECH LAKE. 431 

and then returns for a second. This they repeat till all 
their loads are brought up to this point. Each man's 
pieces are allotted to him at the commencement of the 
portage, and he keeps the same through. There are in 
all one hundred and twenty-two poses, or stopping 
places, on this portage. The carriers march very 
rapidly when loaded. About two hundred of these 
pieces, in goods and provisions, are required for this 
department annually. When we passed these men, 
they had been sixteen days on the portage, and had 
got about two-thirds of the way across it. After they 
cross this, they have two other portages to make before 
they reach Lac du Flambeau, one of which is one 
hundred and fifty or two hundred rods, and the other 
about three miles in length. 

" September twenty-third. I reached the trading- 
post of Mr. Oakes, by whom I was very kindly received, 
on the twentieth. The village of the Indians is two or 
three miles distant from his post. This morning three 
men, having heard that I had arrived, came, as they 
said, to see me, and to hear what I had to say to them. 
Two of them were young men, and the other I should 
judge to be about fifty, of a straight, well proportioned 
body and limbs, not very tall, a countenance rather 
dignified, a keen, arch-looking eye, and a carriage that 
told him to be a man who claimed some title to chief- 
tainship among his band. I greeted them in a friendly 
manner, and told them I was glad to see them, and if 
they would listen, I would tell them something about 
God and his word." 

On the fifteenth of September, 1833, Mr. Ayer arrived 
at Yellow Lake, also in the extreme north-western por- 
tion of Wisconsin, for the purpose of commencing a mis- 



432 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

sion station. In October of the same year the Rev. W. T. 
Boutwell proceeded to Leech Lake, and established the 
first mission in Minnesota west of the Mississippi. Mr. 
E. F. Ely 1 became a teacher during this year, at the 
trading-post of Mr. Aitkin, at Sandy Lake, Minnesota ; 
but the next year opened a school at Fond du Lac, on 
the St. Louis river. 

Calvinism is frequently represented, by those who do 
not embrace its tenets, as a mere abstract system, only 
anxious to impress upon the race stern theological for- 
mulas ; but the journals of its missionaries among the 
savages are always eminently cheerful, hopeful, and 
practical. They came to the untutored Indians of Min- 
nesota, not with a long-drawn countenance, and severe 
exterior, but they came singing songs for the little ones, 
and teaching the men to plough, and the women to sew 
and knit. 

The following letter, written in 1833, by Rev. Mr. 
Boutwell, is full of sunshine from one of the dark places 
of earth, Leech Lake, the abode of the Pillagers, the 
most savage of all the bands of Minnesota : — 

" I arrived at this place October third. Passing for 
the present in silence the particulars of my voyage, I 
will proceed directly to give you some account of my 
reception. When I arrived, the men, with few excep- 

1 Letter from Mr. Ely, at Sandy with the outlet of the lake running 

Lake, September twenty-fifth, 1833. within eighty feet of the house ; the 

" I arrived at this post September Mississippi is about the same dis- 

nineteenth, and am happily disap- tance on the west ; and their conflu- 

poin ted in the appearance of the place, ence is about ten rods below. On 

I occupy a large chamber in Mr. Ait- the twenty-third Mr. Boutwell left 

kin's house, which is both a school- us for Leech Lake. My school was 

room and lodging-room, commanding commenced on the same day with 

an eastern view of Mr. A.'s fields six or eight scholars. To-day I 

and meadows, and of the lake and have had fifteen." 
hills covered with pines, together 



LITTLE CHILDREN ATTRACTED BY SONGS. 433 

tions, were making their fall hunts, while their families 
remained at the lake, and in its vicinity, to gather their 
corn and make rice. A few lodges were encamped quite 
near. These I began to visit for the purpose of read- 
ing, singing, etc., in order to interest the children, and 
awaken in them a desire for instruction. I told them 
about the children at Mackinaw, the Sault, and at La 
Pointe, who could read, write, and sing. To this they 
would listen attentively, while the mother would often 
reply, c My children are poor and ignorant.' To a per- 
son unaccustomed to Indian manners and Indian wild- 
ness, it would have been amusing to have seen the little 
ones, as I approached their lodge, running and scream- 
ing, more terrified, if possible, than if they had met a 
bear robbed of her whelps. It was not long, however, 
before most of them overcame their fears ; and in a few 
days my dwelling (a lodge which I occupied for three 
or four weeks) was frequented from morning till eve- 
ning by an interesting group of boys, all desirous to 
learn to read and sing. To have seen them hanging, 
some on one knee, others upon my shoulder, reading and 
singing, while others, whether from shame or fear I 
know not, who dared not venture within, were peeping 
in through the sides of the cottage, or lying flat upon 
the ground and looking under the bottom, might have 
provoked a smile, especially to have seen them as they 
caught a glance of my eye, springing upon their feet 
and running like so many wild asses' colts. The rain, 
cold, and snow were alike to them, in which they would 
come day after day, many of them clad merely with a 
blanket and a narrow strip of cloth about the loins. 

" The men at length returned, and an opportunity 
was presented me for reading to them. The greater 

28 



434 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

part listened attentively. Some would come back and 
ask me to read more. Others laughed and aimed to 
make sport, both of me and my book. I heeded as if 
I understood not. I had been laughed at and called a 
fool before. Besides, I remembered to have read, ' the 
servant is not above his master.' The second chief 
(Kiji Osaie), the Elder Brother as he is called, now re- 
turned. This chief, though nominally second, is really 
the first in the affections of the band. He is a man 
who courts neither the favour, nor fears the frown of 
his fellow, but speaks independently what he thinks. 
One morning, after breakfasting with us, I said to him, 
e I have come to pass the winter with your trader, and 
I thought I would teach some of the children to read if 
their parents were pleased.' ' It is a good thing to in- 
struct the children, and I do not think an Indian in the 
whole band can be displeased or say a word against it,' 
replied he. A higher object than this, even this man 
could not appreciate at present. This was all and even 
more than I anticipated from him, knowing as I did 
something of the past history, as well as present dispo- 
sition of the band. A few days after, as an Indian was 
leaving with his family for his winter hunt, he came and 
asked me if I should be pleased to have his little boy, 
a lad of ten years, remain with me. ' Certainly,' replied 
I, 'if I had the means of feeding him.' The trader sit- 
ting by kindly offered to feed the boy, and the father left 
him in my care, saying, ' If you will teach him to read 
as the whites do, I should be so glad I do not know 
what I could do for you.' He is a lad of much promise, 
enthusiastically fond of his books, and often expresses a 
strong desire to learn to read English. It is but about 
six weeks since he first saw a book in his own language ; 



NOTICE OF LEECH LAKE OJIBWAYS. 435 

yet he now reads and spells in two syllables, counts one 
hundred in Indian, and forty in English, repeats and 
sings several hymns in Indian, and is committing the 
ten commandments. The like request was made by 
one or two others, but I had no means of my own of 
either feeding or sheltering them. 

"You are now prepared to hear me say from what I 
have seen, and so far as I am able to judge, the Lord 
hath opened a door, and apparently preparing the way 
for you to occupy this field as soon as you can furnish 
the men and the means. In my opinion the sooner 
you occupy it the better. The question has often been 
put to me by the Indians, ' Will you leave in the 
spring?' ' Will you come back again ?' The only reply 
I could make (but to an Indian of ambiguous interpre- 
tation), 'the Lord willing, I will return or send some 
other person.' That there are individuals who would 
be unwilling to have their children instructed at present, 
I have no doubt. I am not without hope, however, 
that by kindness and a judicious course of conduct, their 
prejudices would soon give way. I am equally confident 
also, that there are individuals in the band, and I trust a 
goodly number, who would be highly pleased to have a 
kind and judicious missionary located here. 

" In relation to their numbers and locality, my jour- 
nal, now in your possession, may perhaps give you all 
necessary information. Including the small band on 
Bear Island, excluded from the estimate, there are at 
least eight hundred souls belonging to Leech Lake. 
The Winnipeg and Upper-Red-Cedar Lake bands are 
distant but a day's march, which in this country and 
by an Indian is not a matter of reckoning. 

" The means of subsistence which the country affords 



436 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

are not inconsiderable. These are fish, corn, and rice, 
and they are the almost entire dependence of the traders. 
Fish is the principal. Not less than thirty thousand 
were taken this fall for the winter supply of the four 
houses here. They are called tullibees, the only name 
save the Indian (Etonibins) that I have ever heard. 
They will average from one to three pounds as they are 
taken from the water. The manner of curing them is 
merely to hang them in the air to freeze — a simple 
rather than a safe way. The trader with whom I pass 
the winter has now upon the scaffold about ten thou- 
sand. For two weeks past the weather has been quite 
warm, and he fears, as do his neighbours, that we shall 
not be able to use them. If fish fail, to say the least, we 
shall all grow poor, if we do not some of us grow hungry. 
There was comparatively little corn raised the past 
season by the Indians, perhaps one hundred and fifty 
bushels. They are now in the habit of exchanging corn 
and rice with their traders for strouds and blankets, 
which, happily for the Indians, have taken the place of 
liquor, which is now a prohibited article in the trade. I 
am credibly informed that the exceptions were rare in 
which an Indian would not give his last sack of provi- 
sions for whiskey. Wild rice, an article of much de- 
pendence among the Indians, nearly failed the past 
season on account of high water. Hundreds of bushels 
of this excellent food are often gathered from the small 
lakes in the vicinity, and from the deep bays of this 
lake. Nowhere between Lake Superior and the head 
waters of the Mississippi has the God of providence so 
bountifully provided for the subsistence of man as here. 
In addition to rice and several species of fish which this 
lake affords, the soil is also of a rich quality and highly 



FERTILITY OF SOIL AT LEECH LAKE. 437 

susceptible of cultivation. All the English grains, in 
my opinion, may be cultivated here. At present an 
Indian's garden consists merely of a few square rods in 
which he plants a little corn and a few squashes. Very 
few as yet cultivate the potato, probably for want of 
seed. Fish, instead of bread, is here the staff of life. 

" The traders here have found it impracticable to keep 
any domestic animal save the dog and cat. For the 
least offence an Indian here will sooner shoot a horse 
or cow for revenge than a dog. Still a missionary by 
the second or third year will be better able to judge 
than I now can, with how much security he could make 
the experiment. 

" If the Indians can be induced by example and other 
helps (such as seed and preparing the ground), to culti- 
vate more largely, they would, I have no doubt, furnish 
provisions for their children in part. If a mission here 
should furnish the means of feeding, clothing, and in- 
structing the children, as at Mackinaw, I venture to say 
there would be no lack of children. But such an esta- 
blishment is not only impracticable here ; it is such as 
would ill meet the exigencies of this people. While a 
mission proffers them aid, they should be made to feel 
that they must try at least to help themselves. It 
should be placed on a footing that will instruct them in 
the principles of political economy. At present there is 
among them nothing like personal rights, or individual 
property, any further than traps, guns, and kettles are 
concerned. They possess all things in common. If an 
Indian has anything to eat, his neighbours are all allowed 
to share it with him. While, therefore, a mission extends 
the hand of charity in the means of instruction, and occa- 
sionally an article of clothing, and perhaps some aid in 



438 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

procuring the means of subsistence, it should be only to 
such individuals as will themselves use the means so far 
as they possess them. This might operate as a stimulus 
with them to cultivate and fix a value upon corn, rice, 
etc., at least with such as care to have their children 
instructed, rather than squander it in feasts and feeding 
such as are too indolent to make a garden themselves. 
It will require much patience, if not a long time, to 
break up and eradicate habits so inveterate. An Indian 
cannot eat alone. If he kills a pheasant, his neighbours 
must come in for a portion, small indeed, but so it is. 
As it respects furnishing them with seeds and imple- 
ments of husbandry, this may be done, but only to a 
certain extent. An Indian would most surely take 
advantage of your liberality. Every one would come, 
the last expecting to be served as well, if not better, 
than the first. The mention of a single fact may throw 
sufficient light upon this trait in Indian character. 
While at Sandy Lake, on my way here, I presented a 
little boy with a shirt. Not half an hour after he had 
gone out, no less than half a dozen others came for the 
game favour. But more, I have known boys who had 
a shirt pull it off and throw it aside, while they would 
come expecting to get a new one, in case you had made 
a present to one who had none. They are so jealous, 
that the utmost precaution must be observed in making 
a present of the least article to one that you cannot 
make to another. 

" So far as my observation extends, polygamy is more 
common among this band than any other with which 
I am acquainted. Not only the chiefs, but all the best 
hunters who are able to clothe, in their miserable man- 
ner, more than one woman, keep from two to five. One 



HOUSEKEEPING OF LEECH LAKE MISSIONARY. 439 

individual keeps three who are sisters; and this not 
being sufficient, has a fourth woman." 

In the year 1834, Mr. Boutwell was married at Fond 
du Lac, to an interesting and educated Anglojibway 
lad}', who died a few years ago. The experiences of 
married life at Leech Lake, are narrated in his journal 
published in the Missionary Herald, and are probably the 
first housekeeping of a couple married according to the 
rites of Christianity, beyond the walls of Fort Snelling, 
in Minnesota. 

" The clerk very kindly invited me to occupy a part 
of his quarters, until I could prepare a place to put 
myself. I thought best to decline his offer; and on the 
thirteenth instant, removed my effects, and commenced 
housekeeping in a bark lodge. Then, here I was, with- 
out a quart of corn or Indian rice to eat myself, or give 
my man, as I was too late to purchase any of the mere 
pittance which was to be bought or sold. My nets, 
under God, were my sole dependence to feed myself 
and hired man. I had a barrel and a half of flour, and 
ninety pounds of pork only before me for the winter. 
But on the seventeenth of the same month, I sent my 
fisherman ten miles distant to gather our winter's stock 
of provisions out of the deep. In the mean time, I 
must build a house, or winter in an Indian lodge. 
Rather than do worse, I shouldered my axe and led the 
way, having procured a man of the trader to help me ; 
and in about ten days had my timbers cut and on the 
ground ready to put up. 

" On the twelfth of November, I recalled my fisher- 
man, and found on our scaffold nearly six thousand 
tulibees (a kind of fish found in the north-western 
lakes), for our winter supplies. 



440 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. 

" On the second of December, I quit my bark lodge 
for a mud-walled 4 house ; the timbers of which, I not 
only assisted in cutting, but also carrying on my back, 
until the rheumatism, to say the least, threatened to 
double and twist me, and I was obliged to desist. My 
house, when I began to occupy it, had a door, three 
windows, and a mud chimney ; but neither chair, stool, 
nor bedstead. A box served for the former, and an In- 
dian mat for the two latter. A rude figure, indeed, my 
house would make in a New England city, with its 
deer-skin windows, a floor that had never seen a plane, 
or a saw, and a mud chimney; but it is, nevertheless, 
comfortable. 

" When I arrived, the Indians, as I expected, were 
mostly off for their fall hunt. As their gardens were 
nearly destroyed last summer by the worm, and rice 
again failed, their families were obliged to go to the 
deer country, ten days' march from us. This circum- 
stance has tended to remove them, for the time being, 
from our intercourse and influence. March will bring 
them back and settle them down around us, at least the 
major part of them, as they make sugar and cultivate 
little gardens here and there, where each family chooses. 

"Among those whom I have seen, is the Elder Bro- 
ther, the second chief, who expressed his satisfaction! 
that I had returned, and regretted that he was not 1 
present at my arrival, while there remained a few meni 
with whom he would have smoked and spoken on the 
occasion. The first chief, a few days since, sent me 
word that he would call his young men together in the 
spring, when he returns from his hunt. Thus far these 
two men have taken an honourable and decided course, 
so far as precept can go, and have given assurance that 



FIRST MISSIONS ESTABLISHED AMONG DAHKOTAHS. 441 

this should be followed by practice, in case a permanent 
missionary was located here. What, however, the 
spring will decide, when the good, bad, and indifferent 
all meet together, I do not pretend to foretell. The 
cause is God's, and he will order all things well." 

The Jesuits considered the Dahkotahs as the most 
fierce of all the tribes, and did not venture their lives 
in their midst, except for a few months by the side of a 
French officer. 

It was not till the year 1834, that any formal attempt 
was made to instruct them in the arts, letters, or in the 
morality of the Bible. The Rev. Samuel W. Pond, at 
that time a layman and school teacher in Galena, Illi- 
nois, hearing accounts of the Dahkotahs from Eed river 
emigrants, became interested in their welfare, and wrote 
to his brother Gideon H. Pond, then a young man in 
their native place in Connecticut, proposing that they 
should cast their lot with the Dahkotahs, and try to do 
them good. 

The proposition was accepted, and in the spring of 
1834, provided with neither brass, nor scrip, nor purse, 
he joined his brother at Galena, and embarking on board 
of a steamer, they arrived at Port Snelling in May. 

They stated their plans to Mr. Taliaferro, the Dah- 
kotah agent, and were treated with kindness by him 
and Major Bliss, the commander of the fort. Without 
aid or encouragement from any missionary society, they 
proceeded to the east shore of Lake Calhoun, on the 
banks of which and Lake Harriet, dwelt small bands 
of Dahkotahs, and with their own hands erected a rude 
cabin on the site of a building in recent times occupied 
by Charles Musou. 

About this period, a native of South Carolina, and 



442 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

graduate of Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, the Rev. 
T. S. Williamson, M. D., who, previous to his ordina- 
tion, had been a respectable physician in Ohio, was 
appointed by the American Board of Commissioners of 
Foreign Missions to visit the Dahkotahs, with the view 
of ascertaining what could be done to introduce Christ- 
ian instruction. Having made inquiries at Prairie du 
Chien and Fort Snelling, he reported that the field 
was favourable. The Presbyterian and Congregational 
churches, through their joint missionary society, ap- 
pointed the following persons to labour in Minnesota : 
Eev. Thomas S. Williamson, M. D., missionary and phy- 
sician ; Rev. J. D. Stevens, missionary ; Alexander Hug- 
gins, farmer ; and their wives ; Miss Sarah Poage, and 
Lucy C. Stevens, teachers ; who were prevented during 
the year 1834, by the state of navigation, from entering 
upon their work. 

During the winter of 1834-35, a pious officer of the 
army exercised a good influence on his fellow officers, 
and soldiers under their command. In the absence of 
a chaplain or ordained minister, he, like General Have- 
lock of the British army in India, was accustomed not 
only to drill the soldiers, but to meet them in his own 
quarters, and " reason with them of righteousness, tem- 
perance, and judgment to come." 1 

In the month of May, 1835, Dr. Williamson and 
mission band arrived at Fort Snelling, and were hospita- 
bly received by the officers of the garrison, the Indian 
agent, and Mr. Sibley, then a young man, who had re- 

1 The growling Englishman Fea- as he thought sufficiently notice him, 

therstonhaugh, whose book has and vents his spleen by calling him 

been noticed, became very much a long, lean, canting, " psalm-singing 

offended because this officer did not major/' 



FIRST CHURCH AND COMMUNION IN MINNESOTA. 443 

cently taken charge of the trading-post at Mendota. 
On the second Sabbath in June, a Presbyterian church 
was organized in one of the company rooms of the 
fort, and the communion was administered for the first 
time in Minnesota to twenty-two persons of European 
extraction, composed of officers and soldiers of the army, 
those engaged in the fur trade, and the mission families. 
The late Major Ogden, of the army, who died at Fort 
Riley, here professed his faith in Christianity. Two 
posts were selected by the missionaries as stations. 

The Rev. Mr. Stevens and family proceeded to Lake 
Harriet, in Hennepin county, and erected a house near 
the property of Eli Pettijohn ; and the Rev. Dr. Wil- 
liamson and wife, Mr. Huggins, the farmer, and wife, 
and Miss Poage, proceeded to Lac qui Parle. After a 
fatiguing journey of seventeen days, without meeting 
man or beast, they arrived at the lake on the ninth of 
July, and were warmly welcomed by the well known 
trader, Renville, whose name is attached to one of the 
counties of Minnesota. 

Immediately after their arrival at the stations, the 
missionaries began to study the language of the Dahko- 
tahs, and teach the children what they could. In a 
letter to the Cincinnati Journal, written in November, 
1835, Dr. Williamson describes Dahkotah habits as 
follows : — 

" Gathering the corn, as well as whatever else pertains 
to cultivating the earth, is considered to be the business 
of the women. They gather it in their blankets, and 
carry it to the scaffold, on which they stand to drive 
off the birds. Here it is thrown in a heap exposed to 
the sun, till the husks begin to wilt. These husks are 
then stripped from the corn, but most of them still left 



444 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

attached to the cob. The husks of many ears, still fast 
to the ear, are then platted together into a long string, 
by which the corn is suspended over a hole to dry. 
After hanging for several weeks, exposed to the weather 
till it is entirely freed from moisture, the corn is threshed 
off the cobs, and put in bags made of skins of small fibres 
of lynn bark woven together with the fingers. 

" The smallest and most unrij^e ears are prepared in 
a different way. The husks being entirely torn off, 
they are boiled. Then the corn is shelled, and dried by 
being strewed thin where it will be exposed to the direct 
rays of the sun. When thoroughly dried it is put in 
bags same as the other. When the corn is sufficiently 
dried it is put in sacks containing from one to two 
bushels each, and put away in what are called caches 
by the traders. These are made by digging a circular 
hole about eighteen inches in diameter, perpendicularly 
one or two feet deep, and then enlarging it in the form 
of an earth oven till of sufficient size to contain what 
they have to put into it. They are usually five or six 
feet in diameter at the bottom, and as much in depth. 
The bottom and sides are lined with dry grass, on which 
the sacks of corn are placed. Dry grass is also put on 
top of the corn till it is filled, except the perpendicular 
part. This is filled with earth which is stamped down 
firmly. Corn thus laid away keeps dry and good from 
September till April under ground. 

" Flesh of every kind is such a rarity with the Dah- 
kotahs of these parts, that they eat every kind of quad- 
rupeds and fowls they can obtain. Not only deer, bear, 
and squirrels, grouse, ducks, and geese, but muskrats, 
otters, wolves, foxes and badgers, cranes, hawks, and 
owls. They eat not only what is properly called the 



WEEPING AND WAILING AT LAKE HARRIET. 445 

flesh of these animals, hut every part which can be 
supposed to contain nutriment, — the heads, feet, en- 
trails, and the skins, if they be not valuable as an article 
of traffic. After picking the flesh off the larger bones, 
they break them and boil them to get any little oil they 
may contain to mix with their corn. Exclusive of their 
corn, their food consists in winter chiefly of muskrats, 
badgers, otters, and raccoons ; in the spring, of fish, and 
roots which the earth produces spontaneously, with some 
ducks; in the summer, roots, fish, wild pigeons, and 
cranes ; in autumn, wild ducks, geese, and muskrats." 

As there had never been a chaplain at Fort Snelling, 
the Rev. J. D. Stevens, the missionary at Lake Harriet, 
preached on Sundays to the Presbyterian church, re- 
cently organized. Writing on January twenty-seventh, 
1836, he says, in relation to his field of labour : — 

" Yesterday a portion of this band of Indians, who 
had been some time absent from this village, returned. 
One of the number (a woman) was informed that a 
brother of hers had died during her absence. He was 
not at this village, but with another band, and the in- 
formation had just reached here. In the evening they 
set up a most piteous crying, or rather wailing, which 
continued, with some little cessations, during the night. 
The sister of the deceased brother would repeat, times 
without number, words which may be thus translated 
into English : c Come, my brother, I shall see you no 
more for ever/ The night was extremely cold — the 
thermometer standing from ten to twenty below zero. 
About sunrise, next morning, preparation was made for 
performing the ceremony of cutting their flesh, in order 
to give relief to their grief of mind. The snow was 
removed from the frozen ground over about as large a 



446 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

space as would be required to place a small Indian 
lodge or wigwam. In the centre a very small fire was 
kindled up, not to give warmth apparently, but to 
cause a smoke. The sister of the deceased, who was 
the chief mourner, came out of her lodge followed by 
three other women, who repaired to the place prepared. 
They were all barefooted, and nearly naked. Here 
they set up a most bitter lamentation and crying, ming- 
ling their wailings with the words before mentioned. 
The principal mourner commenced gashing or cutting 
her ankles and legs up to the knees with a sharp stone, 
until her legs were covered with gore and flowing blood ; 
then in like manner her arms, shoulders, and breast. 
The others cut themselves in the same way, but not so 
severely. On this poor infatuated woman I presume 
there were more than a hundred long deep gashes in the 
flesh. I saw the operation, and the blood instantly fol- 
lowed the instrument, and flowed down upon the flesh. 
She appeared frantic with grief. Through the pain of 
her wounds, the loss of blood, exhaustion of strength 
by fasting, loud and long-continued and bitter groans, 
or the extreme cold upon her almost naked and lacerated 
body, she soon sunk upon the frozen ground, shaking as 
with a violent fit of the ague, and writhing in apparent 
agony. ' Surely/ I exclaimed, as I beheld the bloody 
scene, 'the tender mercies of the heathen are cruelty!' 

" The little church at the fort begins to manifest 
something of a missionary spirit. Their contributions 
are considerable for so small a number. I hope they 
will not only be willing to contribute liberally of their 
substance, but will give themselves, at least some of 
them, to the missionary work. 

" The surgeon of the military post, Dr. Jarvis, has 






G. H. POND.— S. W. POND.— S. R. RIGGS. 41? 

been very assiduous in his attentions to us in our sick- 
ness, and has very generously made a donation to our 
board of twenty-five dollars, being the amount of his 
medical services in our family. 

" On the nineteenth instant we commenced a school 
with six full Indian children, at least so in all their 
habits, dress, etc. ; not one could speak a word of any 
language but Sioux. The school has since increased to 
the number of twenty-five. I am now collecting and 
arranging words for a dictionary. Mr. Pond is assidu- 
ously employed in preparing a small spelling-book, which 
we may forward next mail for printing. 

" Since the Indians have returned to their village, I 
have felt it important to spend the Sabbath at the sta- 
tion generally. I have determined on going to the fort 
only on one Sabbath in each month. We have not yet 
been able to collect the Indians together, to give them 
religious instructions on the Sabbath, for want of an 
interpreter." 

During the year 1836 a Presbyterian church was 
organized at Lac qui Parle, and the bois brule trader, 
Renville, became a member, and subsequently his wife, 
the first pure Dahkotah that ever professed, and the 
first that ever died in the Christian faith. 

During the year 1837 Mr. G. H. Pond offered his ser- 
vices as farmer and teacher at Lac qui Parle, and Mr. 
S. W. Pond became a teacher in the mission at Lake 
Harriet. The mission was also strengthened by the 
arrival of Rev. Stephen R. Riggs, a graduate of Jeffer- 
son College, Pennsylvania, and his wife. After remain- 
ing some time at Lake Harriet, Mr. and Mrs. Riggs went 
to Lac qui Parle. 



4 IS HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



41 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Minnesota has ever been a favourite ranging-ground 
of the buffalo. This animal does not appear to have 
roamed in what is now called Canada, and, previous to 
the visit of Perrot to the region of Lake Michigan, but 
little was known concerning its habits. Two centuries 
ago, in a description of New York, it is said "traders 
who come from a great distance make mention of lions' 
skins, which will not be bartered because they are used 
for clothing, being much warmer than others." These 
supposed lions' skins were evidently buffalo robes. 
Joliet and Marquette, descending the Mississippi, in 
1673, saw these animals; and the latter, in his journal, 
says : — 

" We call them wild cattle because they are like our 
domestic cattle ; they are not longer, but almost as big 
again, and more corpulent ; our men having killed one, 
three of us had considerable trouble in moving it. The 
head is very large, the forehead flat, and a foot and a 
half broad between the horns, which are exactly like 
our cattle, except that they are black and much larger. 
Under the neck there is a kind of large crop hanging 
down, and on the back a pretty high hump. The whole 
head, the neck, and part of the shoulders are covered 



RED RIVER CARTS.— HUNTERS. 44& 

with a great mane like a horse's ; it is at least a foot 
long, which renders them hideous, and, falling over their 
eyes, prevents their seeing before them. The rest of 
the body is covered with a coarse, curly hair like the 
wool of our sheep, but much stronger and thicker. It 
falls in summer, and the skin is then as soft as velvet. 
At this time the Indians employ the skins to make 
beautiful robes, which they paint with various colours." 

The first engraving of the buffalo is found in the book 
of travels of Hennepin. In 1677 La Salle was in 
France, and represented to Colbert, the minister, that 
he wished to continue discoveries where commerce in 
the skins and wool of the buffalo might establish a great 
trade and support powerful colonies. 

For many years the half-breeds of the Hudson Bay 
Company have subsisted by hunting the buffalo on the 
plains of Minnesota, and their encroachments on the 
territory of the United States have been a just ground 
of complaint. 1 With the commencement of each spring 
these hunters commence preparations for their campaign, 
and about the month of June they march forth to 
the plains. Their carts are truly primitive, having 
the appearance of being made before the days of Tubal 
Cain. Not a particle of iron fastens them together. 
The wheels are without tires, and wooden pegs take the 
place of iron spikes. Into the shafts an ox is harnessed 
with gearing made of raw hide, and with this vehicle 
they travel hundreds of miles. Women and children 

1 The following list gives an idea In 1825, there were 680 carts, 
of the extent of the hunting by 
British half-breeds in Minnesota. 
The number of carts for the first trip 
of each year is given : — 
29 



1830, " • 


" 820 


1835, " 


" 970 


1840, " 


" 1210 



450 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

accompany the hunters, and, as they wind over the* 
prairies in their gay hunting attire, they appear like bold 
crusaders on a pilgrimage. When they halt for the 
night, the carts are arranged in the form of a circle, with 
the shafts projecting outward, and within this wooden 
cordon the tents are pitched at one end, and the animals 
tethered at the other extremity — when danger is anti- 
cipated. The camp is under complete organization. At 
a meeting of the hunters, chiefs are nominated, one of 
whom acts as chief captain. The rules formed by the 
council of captains are implicitly obeyed. 1 At the hoist- 
ing of the flag in the morning all hands are " up and 
doing," and at the lowering of the flag all halt for the 
night and pitch their tents. The flag, to these modern 
sons of Ishmael, is what the pillar of cloud was to the 
camp of the children of Israel. 

On the fourth of July, 1840, there was a grand buffalo 
chase near the Cheyenne river in Minnesota. An eye- 
witness 2 describes the scene : — 

"At eight o'clock, the whole cavalcade made for the 
buffalo; first at a slow trot, then at a gallop, and lastly 
at full speed. Their advance was on a dead level; the 

1 In 1840, the following were some these laws, the offender to have his 

of the rules of the camp, as deter- saddle and bridle cut up. 
mined at Pembina : — 6. For the second offence, the coat 

1. No buffalo to be run on the to be taken off the offender's back,. 
Sabbath day. and cut up. 

2. No party to fork off, lag be- 7. For the third offence, offender 
hind, or go before, without permis- to be flogged. 

sion. 8. Any person convicted of theft, 

3. No person to run buffalo before even to the value of a sinew, to be- 
the general order. brought to the middle of the camp, 

4. Every captain with his men, in and the crier to call out his or her 
turn to patrol the camp and keep name three times, adding the word 
guard. " Thief," at each time. 

5. For the first trespass against 2 Alexander Ross. 



BUFFALO HUNT IN 1840. 451 

plain having no hollow or shelter of any kind to con- 
ceal their approach. When within four or five hundred 
yards, the bulls began to curve their tails and paw the 
ground, and in a moment more the herd take flight, 
and the hunters burst in among them and fire. Those 
who have seen a squadron of horse dash into battle 
may imagine the scene. The earth seemed to tremble 
when the horses started; but when the animals fled, it 
was like the shock of an earthquake. The air was 
darkened, and rapid firing at last became more faint, as 
the hunters became more distant." 

During the day, at least two thousand buffaloes must 
have been killed, for there were brought in to the camp 
that evening 1375 tongues. The hunters are exceed- 
ingly expert ; with their mouth full of balls, they load 
and fire on the gallop. The carts follow out after the 
hunters and bring in the carcasses, and for several days 
there is a busy scene in camp. Much of the meat is 
useless in consequence of the heat of the season; but 
the skins are dressed, the tongues cured, and pemmican 
prepared. 1 

The last buffalo seen below St. Paul east of the Mis- 
sissippi, was in 1832, in the neighbourhood of Trempe a 
l'Eau. 

The history of Minnesota is now beginning to be 
identified with those who are its citizens, and still in 
the vigour of life. 

The duty of the historian is simply to narrate facts; 



1 Pemmican is a staple to the Sacks of raw hide are then made, 

hunter and voyageur. It is made by into which the preparation is poured 

boiling the tallow of the buffalo, and in a fluid state, 
mixing with it shreds of meat. 



452 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

and his views concerning living men, and their public 
acts, are not to be expected. 

During the year 1836, a Mr. Dickson, styling himself 
General of the Indian Liberating Army, with several 
others, appeared in the Red River settlement, and 
endeavoured to enlist the settlers in a project to unite 
all the Indian nations under a common government, of 
which he was to be the head, with the title of Monte- 
zuma the Second. His officers were dressed in showy 
uniforms and glittering epaulettes. 1 Before they arrived 
at Red river, the cold weather came, and the leader had 
his toes frozen off, which crippled him as well as the 
whole enterprise. 

The latter part of the following winter, one of the 
expedition, Martin McLeod, who has since become one 
of our most active citizens, and whose name is attached 
to a county, left Red river for the United States, on 
snow shoes. His two companions, a Polander and an 
Irishman, both perished in a snow storm near Cheyenne 
river. He and his guide, Pierre Bottineau, 2 were twenty- 
x -.gjx days without seeing a living soul ; and after being- 
five days without food, ate one of their dogs, and at 
last reached the trading-post of the Hon. Joseph R. 
Brown, at Lake Traverse. 

In the month of February, 1837, missionaries sent 
out by the Evangelical Society at Lausanne, Switzer- 
land, arrived and located at Red Wing and Wapashaw 
villages; but after a few years of toil, they abandoned 
the attempt to ameliorate the condition of the Dahko- 
tah. About the same time a Methodist mission was 

1 Martin's Hudson's Bay, London. 



IMPORTANT TREATIES IN 1837. 453 

commenced at Kaposia, afterwards moved to Red Rock, 
after a large expenditure, was finally abandoned. 

The year 1837, forms an era in the history of Min- 
nesota, as the first steps were then taken for the intro- 
duction of the woodman's axe, and the splash of the 
mill-wheel. 

Governor Dodge, of Wisconsin Territory, convened 
the Ojibways at Fort Snelling, and made a treaty by 
which the pine forests of the valley of the St. Croix 
and its tributaries were ceded to the United States. 

A deputation of Dahkotahs the same year proceeded 
to Washington, and in the month of September, con- 
cluded a treaty by which they ceded all their lands east 
of the Mississippi, including all of Washington and 
Ramsey counties, to the United States. 

J. B. Faribault and Pelagie, his wife, presented a 
claim to the United States government for the island in 
front of Fort Snelling, which Pike had purchased. The 
claim was based upon a grant made by the Dahkotahs 
in 1820. 1 

After the treaties with the Indians were concluded, 
Messrs. Baker, Taylor, and Franklin Steele made a 
claim, and commenced the improvement of the valuable 
water-power at the Falls of St. Croix. 

Among visiters of note this year was the distinguished 
novelist, Maryatt. Like all mere tourists, he has been 

I Extract from papers presented to bault, and to her heirs for ever, the 
the secretary of war by Alexis Bailly, island at the mouth of the river St. 
and S. C. Stambaugh, prosecutors Pierre, being the large island, con- 
of the claim. Grant confirmed by taining by estimation, three hundred 
Indians August ninth, 1820: — and twenty acres. ****** 

II Also we do hereby reserve, give, The said Pelagi Farribault being the 
grant and convey, to Pelagi Farri- daughter of Francois Kinie, by a 
bault, wife of John Baptist Farri- woman of our nation." 



454 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

betrayed into inaccuracies; and yet it is interesting to 
note the impression produced by an intelligent mind at 
that period — when the country was still in possession of 
savages. 

The winter of 1837-38 was one of suffering among 
the Dahkotahs of the Upper Minnesota. Famine, and 
the loathsome disease small-pox, made its appearance 
at Lake Traverse, and produced wailing, weeping, and 
gnashing of teeth. The disease was communicated by 
some who had been on a steamboat on the Missouri, 
and they were swept off by scores. In addition to 
famine and pestilence, the war whoop was again raised. 

On the first of April, 1838, a small hunting party 
left Lac qui Parle, accompanied by Mr. Gideon H. Pond, 
who was desirous of becoming more thoroughly ac- 
quainted with Dahkotah modes of life. In the fall 
of 1837, Hole-in-the-day, a distinguished Ojibway chief, 
father of the young man who now bears that name, 
had smoked the calumet with the Dahkotahs, and 
promised to meet them the next spring, and make 
them presents for the privilege of hunting on their 
lands. 

After travelling for a few days, the hunting party 
separated, and a portion proceeded in advance. Three 
lodges of men, women, and children remained. The 
afternoon of the day of the division of the party, eleven 
Ojibway s came to the advance lodges. They were re- 
ceived as friends : two dogs were killed, and they feasted. 
Hilarity ended, the Dahkotahs lay down to sleep. When 
al I was silent, the guests arose and scalped men, women, 
children, and infants, nearly the whole camp. Among 
those who escaped, was a mother. While fleeing, her 
babe was shot in her arms, and she was wounded. 



G. H. POND BURIES SLAUGHTERED INDIANS. 455 

Hastening behind a tree, she eluded the enemy, and 
matched them in their fiendish work. 

After they left the scene, she returned to the lodges, 
and remained till the dawn of day. Fastening two 
poles, after the manner of Indians, to a horse, she 
placed on them a wounded boy, and her scalped little 
ones, and proceeded in search of the party that had 
gone ahead. At length finding them, she told her tale 
of woe. Mr. Pond, in company with an Indian, imme- 
diately repaired to the scene of carnage, and found 
several bodies who had passed from the sleep of life to 
the sleep of death, without opening their eyelids. 
Hastily digging a grave, the severed limbs, heads, and 
mangled bodies of eleven Dahkotahs were interred, and 
covered with a buffalo skin teepee. On the fourteenth 
of April the survivors returned to Lac qui Parle, and 
the intelligence caused " wailing and weeping." 

In the month of August, a war party left Lac qui 
Parle to retaliate for the April slaughter. Discovering 
five or six Ojibways, they attempted to scalp them, but 
all escaped their hands but a woman. About to become 
a mother, she swam a stream with difficulty, and sank 
down on the opposite bank exhausted. Her pursuers 
soon tore her scalp from her head, and then, ripping 
open her body, dashed the unborn babe to pieces. 

The Ojibways, at Pokeguma, became very much afraid' 
that the Dahkotahs of the Mississippi would now attack 
them. Dancing the war dance, they were unfriendly to 
the mission at their lake ; shooting cattle, and dashing 
a canoe to pieces. They also threatened to drive the 
missionaries and all others from the country. 

Finding some lumbermen, in anticipation of the rati- 
fication of the treaty of 1837, cutting trees at the mouth 



456 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

of Snake river, they pursued them. The men fled down 
the St. Croix in their canoes, and, at the imminent risk 
of their lives, floated over the falls, where their canoe 
sunk, but they were unhurt. 

A few miles below the falls they were met by the first 
steamboat that had ever ascended the St. Croix, bring- 
ing the welcome news of the ratification of the treaty, 
which had been made at Fort Snelling the year before, 
and ratified by the Senate on the fifteenth of June, 1838. 
The Palmyra, Capt. Holland, arrived at Fort Snelling 
on the 15th, but did not reach Fall of St. Croix until 
the 17th of July. She brought men and machinery for 
the projected mills. 

After the unprovoked attack of Hole-in-the-Day, be- 
yond Lac qui Parle, some Dahkotahs met an Ojibway, 
near the grave-yard, at Fort Snelling, and killed him. 
The murderers were for a time confined in the guard- 
house of the fort, but at last set at liberty. During the 
month of June, 1839, hundreds of Ojibways arrived at 
Fort Snelling, under the erroneous impression that they 
were to receive their annuities there. While there, the 
neighbouring Dahkotahs visited them. They drank, 
they feasted, they danced together. Two sons of the 
Ojibway, murdered near the grave-yard the year before, 
took the occasion to go and weep over the burial-place 
of their father. The thought of their murdered parent 
excited a desire for revenge ; and, that night secreting 
themselves near a frequented trail at Lake Harriet, at 
the next day's dawn they shot and scalped one of that 
band named " Badger," who was starting to hunt. The 
friends of the murdered one soon brought him home, 
wrapped in his blanket. 

Yeetkadootah, or Bed Bird, a near relative, approach- 



BATTLES OF STILLWATER AND RUM RIVER. 457 

ing, removing the ornaments from the corpse, kissed 
it, and said he would die for it. 

His voice was now lifted up for war. Raising a party, 
he crossed the Mississippi at Fort Snelling, in pursuit 
of the Ojibways, who had departed for their country 
the day before. While assembled on the east bank of 
the Mississippi they bound themselves to kill all. The 
Ojibways had gone partly by the St. Croix, and partly 
by the Mississippi, to their villages. Red Bird deter- 
mined to follow the party that had ascended the Mis- 
sissippi. 

The same day warriors from Kaposia, and the other 
villages in the vicinity of the fort, followed the trail 
leading through St. Paul, in search of the Ojibways that 
had gone in that direction. Travelling until night, 
they found the Ojibways sleeping in the ravine near 
the penitentiary at Stillwater. Perceiving that there 
was a white man, an old trader (Mr. Aitkin), in the 
enemy's camp, they postponed their attack until dawn 
of the next day, as they did not wish to injure him. 

At daybreak, the first intelligence of the presence of 
the Dahkotahs was a volley of musket balls poured 
from the bluffs into the midst of the Ojibway camp. 

The Ojibways, fighting bravely, retreated to the 
shore of the lake, and endeavoured to escape in their 
canoes ; but, before the conflict was over, forty or fifty 
of their number were slain. Ten or fifteen Dahkotahs 
were killed and wounded. 1 

About the time that the battle of Stillwater ended, 
Yeetkadootah's party came up to the women and child- 

1 The one-legged Indian, known to lost his leg by a wound in this bat- 
the citizens of St. Paul as Lame Jim, tie. 



458 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

ren of the Ojibway s, who were making a portage on 
Rum river, while the men were absent hunting deer. 
With lance, scalping knife, and tomahawk, in a brief 
period they made bloody work. In their haste to take 
scalps, it is said they scalped one of their own number. 

Yeetkadootah, on horseback, approaching a wounded 
Ojibway, who still held his gun in his hand, was shot 
through the neck, just as he was alighting to scalp him. 

It is said that while the Ojibways were at Fort Snel- 
ling, a young Dahkotah brave had wooed an Ojibway 
maiden, and was loved in return. In the heat of the 
battle he found his tomahawk raised to strike a woman, 
&nd behold, it proved to be her whom he had loved. 
She begged to be his captive, but it had been agreed 
that there should be no quarter. As he could not save 
her he passed on, and in an instant, one in the rear 
cleft her skull with the sharp tomahawk. From these 
two engagements the Dahkotahs brought back ninety- 
one scalps, and were frantic with glory. 

In 1836, before the Indian title was extinguished, 
settlers located on the tract of land on the east side of 
the Mississippi, Between St. Paul and Fort Snelling. 
By the treaty of September, 1837, made by the Dah- 
kotahs with the United States, which was ratified by 
the Senate on the fifteenth of June, 1838, the Indian 
title to the tract in question ceased. 

In March, 1838, the commander at Fort Snelling 
selected this land as a part of a military reservation. 
Consequently, it was withheld from sale. Those who 
had made claims upon it, were much dissatisfied, and 
evinced a disposition to resist. Orders were issued from 
the war department, to the United States Marshal of 



REMOVAL OF SQUATTERS. 



459 



Wisconsin, to remove the intruders. 1 The greater por- 
tion of the settlers were Swiss, and after all of their 
migrations from Switzerland, via Hudson Bay Com- 
pany's possessions, to the present desirable location, 
they were loath to depart. The troops were sum- 
marily called out from the fort on the sixth of May, 
1840, and the settlers with undue haste removed, and 
on the next day the troops destroyed their cabins, to 
prevent re-occupation. 



1 Order for removal of squatters on 
Military Reserve, Fort Snelling : — 

" War Department, 

Oct. 21, 1839. 

" Sir — The interests of the service, 
and the proper and effective main- 
tenance of the military post at Fort 
Snelling, requiring that the intruders 
on the land recently reserved for 
military purposes, opposite to that 
post east of the Mississippi river 
be removed therefrom, the President 
of the United States directs that 
when required by the commanding 
officer of the post you proceed there, 
and remove them under the provi- 
sions of the act of March third, 
1807, entitled 'An act to prevent 
settlements being made on lands 
ceded to the United States, until 
authorized by law/ 

" You will satisfy yourself of the 
shortest period within which the 
intruders can make their arrange- 
ments for removal, and depart from 
the reservation without serious loss 
or sacrifice of the property which 
they may have to take with them, 
and you will promptly make known 
to them that it is expected they will 



not delay beyond that period ; as 
should they do so, it will become your 
duty to remove them by military force. 
It is hoped, however, that a resort to 
such force for this purpose which by 
the Act above-mentioned the Presi- 
dent is authorized to employ, will 
not be necessary ; but that they will 
promptly depart, on being informed 
of the determination of the execu- 
tive, not to permit them to remain. 
Should you however be unfortunate- 
ly obliged to use force in order to ac- 
complish the object, you are author- 
ized to call for such as you may 
deem necessary on the commanding 
officer at Fort Snelling. In this 
event you will act with as much 
forbearance, consideration, and deli- 
cacy as may be consistent with the 
prompt and faithful performance of 
the duties hereby assigned to you, 
first fully and mildly explaining the 
folly of resistance on their part, and 
your own want of discretion in the 
matter. Very respectfully, your 
obedient servant, 

J. R. Poinsett. 

Edward James, Esq., 

United States Marshal for the 
Territory of Wiskonsan, Peru." 



460 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

During the summer of 1840, a tragic and melancholy 
occurrence took place on the plains of Minnesota. On 
the sixth of June,. Thomas Simpson, the youthful, 
educated, and adventurous explorer, who had disco- 
vered and named Victoria Land, in the Arctic Eegions, 
left Fort Garry, in the Red River settlement, to visit 
England, by way of the traders' route through Minne- 
sota. He left the settlement with quite a number, but 
anxious to behold Great Britain, from which he had 
been absent for years, they travelled too slow, and he 
moved on in advance with a Canadian, two half-breeds, 
and a lad, the son of one of the latter. 

His movements were those of one whose mind was 
excited, and in two days he had advanced one hundred 
miles. He then complained of sickness, and said he 
would never recover ; and when told that there was a 
physician at the mission-house of Lac qui Parle, he 
replied " that he did not wish a doctor." At his urgent 
solicitation, his guides turned back on the fourteenth of 
June, and an hour and a half after the setting of the 
sun, they encamped near Turtle river. While two of 
the men and the lad were busy in raising the tent, one of 
them, named Bird, was shot, and instantly died, and on 
turning around, the others saw Simpson fire at a half- 
breed, named Legros, father of the boy, and in a few 
minutes he expired. The boy and surviving guide ran 
off, when Simpson called out that their lives were safe, 
and that he had shot the others because they intended 
to murder him on that night, and take the papers on 
his recent Arctic explorations. 

Before Legros died, he called his son and kissed him. 
Bruce, the remaining guide, and lad, that night mounted 
their horses, and proceeded toward the main camp that 



INSANITY AND SUICIDE OF THOMAS SIMPSON. 461 

they had left a few days before. Relating their strange 
story, five accompanied them to the scene of the disaster. 
As they approached the cart the next day, on their re- 
turn, a shot was fired, as they at first supposed at their 
party. Drawing nigh with great caution, crawling 
through the grass on their stomachs, they discovered 
Mr. Simpson stretched out, with one leg across the 
other, the butt end of his gun between his legs, the 
right hand with the glove off directed to the trigger, 
all the head above the nose blown off, and his night- 
cap some yards distant with a bullet hole in it, and 
some of his hair attached. Since Bruce and the son 
of Legros left the night before, the body of one of the 
guides had been covered with the tent, and the poles 
laid on the top, and the body of the other had been 
covered with a blanket, and a pillow placed beneath 
the head. From the beaten path it was supposed that 
he had passed the whole night in walking between 
these two dead bodies. It was a tragic scene. The 
moon that night shone brightly. The faithful dog of 
one of the party remained watching, and Simpson, with 
his over-tasked mind, gibbered over the corpses, and 
wrapped them up, filled with some strange fancy. 

On the fifteenth of June, Simpson, only thirty-two 
years of age, and his two guides, were wrapped up in 
the same winding-sheet, the cover of the tent, and de- 
posited in the same grave. The news of this tragedy 
did not reach Red river until the party returned from 
Fort Snelling, in the month of October. A medical 
gentleman with some men then proceeded to the grave, 
and disinterring the bodies, made a post mortem exami- 
nation, which corresponded with the deposition of 



462 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Bruce, as given before Mr. Sibley at Mendota in July. 
His body was conveyed to Red river, and there re-in- 
terred. 1 

The Dahkotahs in the neighbourhood of Lakes 
Harriet and Calhoun, through fear of their enemies, 
after the troubles of 1839, began to reside on the 
banks of the Minnesota, near Oak Grove. 

On the seventeenth of June, 1840, four Ojibways who 
had secreted themselves about two miles below Mendota, 
on the Mississippi, killed and scalped a Dahkotah man 
and woman. 

Joseph R. Brown, who since 1838 had lived at Chan 
Wakan, on the west side of Grey Cloud Island, this 
year made a claim near the upper end of the city of 
Stillwater, which he called Dahkotah, and was the first 
to raft lumber down the St. Croix, as well as the first 
to represent the citizens of the valley in the legislature 
of Wisconsin. 

On the second of September, of this year, the Rev. 
Mr. Riggs, of the Lac qui Parle mission, accompanied 
by the mission farmer, Mr. Huggins, made a tour to the 
Missouri, in company with a party of Indians on a 
buffalo hunt. 2 

Until the year 1841, the jurisdiction of Crawford 
county, Wisconsin, extended over the delta of country 
between the St. Croix and Mississippi. Joseph R. 
Brown, having been elected as representative of the 

1 Alexander Simpson, in " Life who was a justice of the peace, and 

and Travels of T. Simpson/' Bentley, examined the eye-witnesses, thinks 

London, 1845, conveys the impres- he became deranged, and shot his 

sion that he was murdered by the guides and himself, 

half-breeds. Ballantyne, in " Hud- 2 An interesting account of this 

son's Bay," has the same opinion, but journey is published in the Mission- 

Ross, in " Red River Settlement," ary Herald, Boston, 1841. 



7;:: Jiirlli^ z ~ £zi:^n i= Lt ?: I . .> E: 

ai: ';•:;;;,"_. i ~ ~ ■ ;_ir: — ::'_ Lis >:n. n: . 



" 



: 



464 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

tahs resided in this vicinity, for a long period it has 
been the abode of their enemies, the Ojibways. 

In the year 1836, missionaries of the American 
Board of Foreign Missions connected with the Congre- 
gational and Presbyterian denominations, came to re- 
side among the Ojibways of Pokeguma, to promote their 
temporal and spiritual welfare. Their mission-house 
was built on the east side of the lake ; but the Indian 
village was on an island not far from the shore. In a 
few years, several Indian families, among others that 
of the chief, were induced to build log houses around 
the mission. The missionaries felt, to use the language 
of one of them, that " the motives of the gospel had no 
more influence over the Indian, in themselves consid- 
ered, than over the deer that he follows in the chase." 
They therefore first encouraged the Indian to work, and 
always purchased of him his spare provisions. 

By aiding them in this way, many had become 
quite industrious. In a letter written in 1837, we find 
the following : " The young women and girls now make, 
mend, wash, and iron after our manner. The men 
have learned to build log houses, drive team, plough, 
hoe, and handle an American axe with some skill in 
cutting large trees, the size of which, two years ago, 
would have afforded them a sufficient reason why they 
should not meddle with them." 

On May fifteenth, 1841, two young men had gone, 
by order of Mr. Russell, now of Sauk Rapids, then In- 
dian farmer at Pokeguma, to the Falls of St. Croix, 
after a load of provisions. On the next day, which was 
Sunday, the news arrived there, that a Dahkotah war 
party, headed by Little Crow, of the Kaposia band, 
whose face is so familiar to the older citizens of St. 



BATTLE OF LAKE POKEGUMA. . 465 

Paul, was on the way to their village. Immediately 
they started back on foot to give the alarm to their 
relatives and friends. 

They had hardly left the Falls, on their return, be- 
fore they saw a party of Dahkotahs, stripped and be- 
daubed with vermillion, and preparing themselves for 
war. The sentinel of the enemy had not noticed the 
approach of the young men. A few yards in front of 
the Ojibway youth sat two of the sons of Little Crow, 
behind a log, exulting, no doubt, in anticipation of the 
scalps in reserve for them at the lake. In the twink- 
ling of an eye, these two young Ojibways raised their 
guns, fired, and killed both of the chief's sons. The 
sentinel, who had by his carelessness allowed them to 
pass, was a third son. The discharge of the guns re- 
vealed to him that an enemy was near, and as the Ojib- 
ways were retreating, he fired, and mortally wounded 
one of the two. 

Fiendish was the rage of the Dahkotahs at this 
disastrous surprise. According to custom, the corpses 
of the chief's sons were dressed, and then set up with 
their faces towards the country of their ancient enemies. 
The wounded Ojibway was horribly mangled by the 
infuriated party, and his limbs strewn about in every 
direction. His scalped head was placed in a kettle, and 
suspended in front of the two Dahkotah corpses, in the 
belief that it would be gratifying to the spirits of the 
deceased, to see before them the bloody and scalpless 
head of one of their enemies. 

Little Crow, disheartened by the loss of his two 
boys, returned with his party to Kaposia. But other 
parties were in the field. The Dahkotahs had divided 
themselves into three bands ; and it was the understand- 

30 



466 * HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

mg that one party was first to attack Pokeguma, and 
then retire. After the Ojibways supposed that the 
attack was over, the second party was to commence 
their fire, and after they had ceased to fight, the third 
party was to begin to slaughter. 

The second party proceeded as far as the mouth of 
Snake river, but, supposing that the Ojibways had dis- 
covered them, they turned back, and upon their arrival 
at the Falls of St. Croix, they were still more chagrined, 
by hearing of the death of the sons of the Kaposia 
chief. 

It was not till Friday, the twenty-first of May, that 
the death of one of the young Ojibways sent by Mr. 
Russell, to the Falls of St. Croix, was known at Poke- 
guma. The murdered youth was a son of one of those 
families who had renounced heathenism, and whose 
parents lived on the lake shore, in one of the log build- 
ings, by the mission-house. The intelligence alarmed 
the Ojibways on the island opposite the mission, and on 
Monday, the twenty-fourth, three young men left in a 
canoe to go to the west shore of the lake, and from 
thence to Mille Lac, to give intelligence to the Ojibways 
there, of the skirmish that had already occurred. They 
took with them two Indian girls, about twelve years of 
age, who were pupils of the mission school, for the pur- 
pose of bringing the canoe back to the island. Just as 
the three were landing, twenty or thirty Dahkotah war- 
riors, with a war whoop emerged from their conceal- 
ment behind the trees, and fired into the canoe. The 
young men instantly sprang into the water, which wast 
shallow, returned the fire, and ran into the woods, esca- 
ping without material injury. 

The little girls, in their fright, waded into the lake ; 



BATTLE OF LAKE POKEGUMA. 467 

and as in Indian warfare it is as noble to kill an infant 
as an adult, a delicate woman as a strong man, the 
Dahkotah braves, with their spears and war clubs, rushed 
into the water after the children and killed them. 
Their parents upon the island, heard the death cries of 
their children ; and for a time the scene was one of the 
wildest confusion. Some of the Indians around the 
mission-house jumped into their canoes and gained the 
island. Others went into some fortified log huts. 
The attack upon the canoe, it was afterwards learned, 
was premature. The party upon that side of the lake 
were ordered not to fire, until the party stationed in the 
woods near the mission commenced. 

There were in all one hundred and eleven Dahkotah 
warriors, and the fight was in the vicinity of the mis- 
sion-house, and the Ojibways mostly engaged in it were 
those who had been under religious instruction. The 
rest were upon the island. During the engagement, an 
incident occurred, as worthy of note as some of those 
in Grecian history. 

The fathers of the murdered girls, burning for re- 
venge, left the island in a canoe, and drawing it up on 
the shore, hid behind it, and fired upon the Dahkotahs 
and killed one. The Dahkotahs advancing upon them, 
they were obliged to escape. The canoe was now 
launched. One lay on his back in the bottom; the 
other plunged into the water, and, holding the canoe with 
one hand, and swimming with the other, he towed his 
friend out of danger. The Dahkotahs, infuriated at 
their escape, fired volley after volley at the swimmer, 
but he escaped the balls by putting his head under 
water whenever he saw them take aim, and waiting till 



468 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

he heard the discharge, when he would look up and 
breathe. 

After a fight of two hours, the Dahkotahs retreated 
with a loss of two men. At the request of the parents, 
Mr. E. F. Ely, now of Oneota, from whose notes the 
writer has obtained these facts, being at that time a 
teacher at the mission, went across the lake, with two 
of his friends, to gather the remains of his murdered 
pupils. He found the corpses on the shore. The 
heads cut off and scalped, with a tomahawk buried in 
the brains of each, were set up in the sand near the 
bodies. The bodies were pierced in the breast, and the 
right arm of one was taken away. Eemoving the 
tomahawks, the bodies were brought back to the island, 
and in the afternoon were buried in accordance with 
the simple but solemn rites of the Church of Christ, by 
members of the mission. 

It is usual for Indians to leave their murdered on 
or near the battle-field, with their faces looking towards 
the enemy's country; and on Wednesday the Ojibways 
started out in search of the Dahkotahs that had been 
killed. By following the trail, they soon found the two 
bodies, and scalped them. One of the heads was also 
cut off, and brought to the island, to adorn the graves 
of the little girls. To a North-western savage, such a 
head-stone at a daughter's grave is more gratifying than 
one of sculptured Italian marble. Strips of flesh were 
fastened to the trees. A breast was also taken, and 
cooked and eaten by the braves to express their hatred 
to the Dahkotahs. 
- The mother and wife of the young man who had 
been killed by Little Crow's third son, were each pre- 
sented with a hand. These women had been accustomed 



ATTACK BELOW ST. PAUL. 469 

to attend preaching at the mission-house, and knew the 
principles of the Prince of Peace. Though they had, 
in 1839, lost many relatives by an attack from the Dah- 
kotahs, on Kum river, they engaged in no savage orgies, 
but, withdrawing to their wigwam, they placed the 
hands of their foes upon their knees, gazed in silence, 
then wrapped them in white muslin and interred them. 
Such is one of the many similar scenes that have occurred 
in our own territory within ten years. Governor Ram- 
sey, the president of the Historical Society, in his 
address of 1851, well remarked that the region between 
the Falls of St. Croix and Mille Lac, was a "Gol- 
gotha" — a place of skulls. 

The sequel to this story is soon told. The Indians 
of Pokeguma, after the fight, deserted their village, and 
went to reside with their countrymen near Lake Supe- 
rior. 

In July of the following year, 1842, a war party was 
formed at Fond du Lac, about forty in number, and pro- 
ceeded towards the Dahkotah country. When they 
reached Kettle river they were joined by the Ojibways 
of St. Croix and Mille Lac, and thus numbered about 
one hundred warriors. Sneaking, as none but Indians 
can, they arrived unnoticed at the little settlement below 
St. Paul, commonly called " Pig's Eye," which is oppo- 
site Kaposia, or Little Crow's village. Finding an 
Indian woman at work in the garden of her husband, a 
Canadian, by the name of Gamelle, they killed her; 
also another woman, with her infant, whose head was 
cut off. The Dahkotahs, on the opposite side, were 
mostly intoxicated ; and, flying across in their canoes 
but half prepared, they were worsted in the encounter. 
They lost thirteen warriors, and one of their number, 



470 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

known as the Dancer, the Ojibways are said to have 
skinned. 

The year of the Pokeguma battle, Governor Doty 
visited the Dahkotahs, and negotiated a treaty with the 
several bands at Wapashaw, Mendota, and Traverse des 
Sioux, by which the country west of the Mississippi 
would have been ceded, but the United States Senate did 
not ratify it. 

During the winter of 1842-3, Mr. Ayer visited Red 
Lake, whose waters flow into the Red River of the 
North, with the view of ascertaining the practicability 
of missionary operations there. The chief received 
the proposition with favour, and thus addressed his 
warriors : — 

" My braves ! I should be ashamed to suffer one who 
has come so far to visit us to turn back again. We 
should not turn him away. We would not treat our 
trader in this way ; we should run to meet him. My 
braves ! you have listened to what he said. I believe 
what he says. Let us try him four years, and if we do 
not find him true, then we will send him away." 

On the 17th of April he made a second visit, accom- 
panied by Mr. Spencer, and Mr. E. F. Ely. The latter 
two immediately commenced assisting the Indians in 
their ploughing and in preparations for putting in a 
crop. The months of February and March, 1843, were 
exceedingly severe, the thermometer ranging lower than 
ever before recorded. The snow had fallen to such 
depths that the snow shoe was not very serviceable, and 
the waters were so troubled by high winds that it was 
difficult for the Indians to spear the fish through the 
holes cut in the ice. The Dahkotahs were brought to 
the verge of starvation, some bands being reduced to 



SETTLEMENT OF STILLWATER. 471 

the necessity of subsisting on a syrup made of hickory 
chips, or boiled bitter sweet. The United States 
government, in view of their peculiar necessities, 
granted them twenty-five hundred dollars worth of pro- 
visions, powder, and clothing. 

During the summer the Rev. Mr. Riggs, on his return 
from a visit to Ohio, commenced a mission station at 
Traverse des Sioux. His family and the Rev. Mr. 
Hopkins and wife proceeded to Lac qui Parle. While 
drawing to the close of their last day's journey, three 
young Dahkotahs, who had been on a visit to Ohio, 
hurried on in advance. Shortly two Indian lads said 
that, while drinking at a little stream, they had heard 
the report of fire-arms, and had seen Ojibways. The 
intelligence was confirmed by the return of one of the 
three who had gone ahead, who said that he had con- 
versed with the Ojibways, and had been saved by his 
white man's dress. In a little while the travellers 
beheld on an eminence fifteen or twenty Ojibway war- 
riors, who retreated as they approached. Crossing the 
Maya-wakan, they found the two corpses of the young 
Dahkotahs. Taking the wagon cover for a winding- 
sheet, the missionaries wrapped one of the bodies and 
proceeded toward Lac qui Parle. The Indians there 
having gained intelligence of the attack, rushed forth 
to meet them, and were enraged because the whites had 
not pursued the Ojibways. 

On the tenth of October, 1843, was commenced a 
settlement which has become the town of Stillwater. 
The names of the proprietors were John McKusick 
from Maine, Calvin Leach from Vermont, Elam Greeley 
from Maine, and Elias McKean from Pennsylvania. 
They immediately commenced the erection of a saw- 



472 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

mill, and made improvements which fixed the point as 
the centre of the lumbering interests of the valley of 
the St. Croix. 

On the eleventh of August, 1844, Captain Allen, with 
fifty United States dragoons, left Fort Des Moines, Iowa, 
and passed through the south-western portion of Minne- 
sota; but, the guide having left them soon after they 
commenced their march, they wandered through the 
country in great uncertainty. After floundering through 
marshes, they came, as they supposed, to a tributary of 
the Minnesota ; and, on the tenth of September, about 
latitude 45°, they found the Big Sioux, and there, for 
the first time since they started, met a party of Dah- 
kotahs. 

B. Gervais, during this year, moved to a point five 
miles north-east of St. Paul, known as Little Canada, 
and erected the first mill in Minnesota beyond the mili- 
tary reservation of Fort Snelling. 

In the summer of this year, a party of drovers, on 
their way from the South to Fort Snelling with cattle, 
lost their way, and were captured and maltreated by 
the Sissetoan Dahkotahs. As soon as the intelligence 
reached the fort, troops were despatched in pursuit of 
the offenders, who were captured, but subsequently 
escaped. 

The United States, having learned that the half-breed 
hunters of Ked River settlement were killing thousands 
of buffalo annually in Minnesota, sent a military expe- 
dition to the valley of the Red river, under the charge 
of Captain Sumner of the dragoons. They left Fort 
Atkinson, Iowa, on the third of June, 1845, and, march- 
ing through the interior, reached Traverse des Sioux on 
the twenty-fifth. Proceeding to Lac qui Parle, a council 



SUMNER ARRESTS MURDERERS OF A DROVER. 473 

was held with the Dahkotahs of that vicinity. Although 
they had difficulty with the half-breeds of the North, in 
consequence of hunting buffalo in their country, they 
did not wish the United States to interfere. On the 
fifth of July, another council was held at Big Stone 
Lake, but it was unsatisfactory. 

The next day they marched northward, and, on the 
eighth, while Captain Sumner was holding an informal 
council in the saddle, three of the murderers of the 
drover. (Watson) and party, who had escaped the pre- 
vious autumn from Colonel Wilson's detachment of the 
First Infantry, boldly walked into council. Immediately 
they were recognised and arrested. The excitement for 
a few moments was intense, but Sumner told them that 
it was useless to talk at that time, as he would be there 
again in about a month. The prisoners then accom- 
panied the troops to Minne Wakan ! Lake, about the 48 th 
degree of latitude, which was reached on the eighteenth. 
In this vicinity they struck the trail of the hunters, and 
soon met a deputation of them with an interpreter. The 
next morning Captain Sumner proceeded to their camp, 
which was composed of one hundred and eighty men. 
In his interview with them he found them frank and 
sensible. They told him that they had been trained to 
the hunters life from childhood, and knew no other 
occupation, and that the buffalo was their only subsist- 
ence, and they desired to know whether they would be 
received as citizens, if they moved within the American 
lines. The officer told them that he was not authorized 
to express any opinion on such points, but advised them 
to write a letter to Washington. 

1 Devil's Lake. 



174 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



The expedition returned to Traverse des Sioux on 
the seventh of August, and was surprised at seeing two 
fine horses, that belonged to the officers of Captain 
Allen's company, and some mules, among the Indians. 
The thieves were arrested and sent down to Fort 
Snelling. 

In the spring of 1845, one of Good Road's band of 
Dahkotahs was killed by Pillagers at Otter Tail Lake. 
Not long after, a party of Ojibways came to Fort Snel- 
ling, and to protect them from the exasperated Dahko- 
tahs, Captain Backus quartered them within the walls. 

In the month of March, 1846, Joseph Renville, of 
Lac qui Parle, whose name one of the counties of the 
State bears, died. Previous to the ratification of the 
treaty of 1837, he was, perhaps, the most prominent 
citizen in Minnesota. 1 



1 Joseph Renville was of mixed 
descent, and his history forms a link 
between the past and the present 
history of Minnesota. His father 
was a French trader of much repu- 
tation. His mother was a Dahkotah, 
connected with some of the principal 
men of the Kaposia band. He was 
born just below the town of St. Paul, 
about the year 1779, during the war 
of the American Revolution. At 
that time, there was probably not a 
white family residing in the whole 
of that vast territory that now com- 
prises Northern Illinois, Wisconsin, 
Iowa, and Minnesota, excepting offi- 
cers of the British army. 

Accustomed to see few European 
countenances, in sports, habits, and 
feelings he was a full Dahkotah 
youth. As often happens, his mo- 
ther deserted her husband, and went 



to live with one of her own blood. 
The father, noticing the activity of 
his son's mind, took him to Canada 
before he was ten years of age, and 
placed him under the tuition of a 
priest of Rome. His instructor ap- 
pears to have been both a kind and 
good man, and from him he received 
a slight knowledge of the French 
language, and the elements of the 
Christian religion. Before he at- 
tained to manhood, he was brought 
back to the Dahkotah land, and was 
called to mourn the death of his 
father. 

At that time, there was a British 
officer by the name of Dickson, who 
lived in what is now Minnesota, and 
the head of an English Fur Com- 
pany. Knowing that young Ren- 
ville was energetic, he employed 
him as a " coureur des bois." While 



ONE-EYED CANADIAN, EARLY SETTLER AT ST. PAUL. 475 



The year that the Dahkotahs ceded the land east of 
the Mississippi, a Canadian Frenchman, by the name 
of Parant, the ideal of an Indian whiskey-seller, erected 






a mere stripling, he had guided his 
canoe from the Falls of Pokeguma 
to the Falls of St. Anthony, and fol- 
lowed the trails from Mendota to the 
Missouri. He knew by heart the 
legends of Winona, and Ampato Sa- 
pawin, and Hogan-wanke-kin. He 
had distinguished himself as a brave, 
and also became identified with the 
Dahkotahs more fully by following 
in the footsteps of his father and 
purchasing a wife of that nation. 

In 1797, he wintered, in company 
with a Mr. Perlier, near Sauk Ra- 
pids. The late General Pike was 
introduced to him at Prairie du 
Chien, and was conducted by him 
to the Falls of St. Anthony. This 
officer was pleased with him, and 
recommended him for the post of 
United States Interpreter. In a let- 
ter to General Wilkinson, written at 
Mendota, September ninth, 1805, he 
says : " I beg leave to recommend 
for that appointment, a Mr. Joseph 
Pvenville, who has served as inter- 
preter for the Sioux last spring at 
the Illinois, and who has gratuitous- 
ly and willingly served as my inter- 
preter in all my conferences with 
the Sioux. He is a man respected 
by the Indians, and I believe an 
honest one." 

At the breaking out of the last 
war with Great Britain, Col. Dickson 
was employed by that government, 
to hire the warlike tribes of the 
North-west to fight against the 
United States. Renville received 
from him, the appointment and rank 



of captain in the British army, and 
with warriors from the Wapashaw, 
Kaposia, and other bands of Dahko- 
tahs, marched to the American fron- 
tier. 

In 1822 he became a member of 
the Columbia Fur Company. Shortly 
after, the American Fur Company 
of New York, of which John Jacob 
Astor was one of the directors, not 
wishing any rivals in the trade, pur- 
chased their posts, and good-will, 
and retained the " coureurs dea 
bois." Under this new arrangement, 
Renville removed to Lac qui Parle, 
and erected a trading-house, and 
here he resided until the end of his 
days. 

Living as he had done, for more 
than a half century among the 
Dahkotahs, over whom he exercised 
the most unbounded control, it is 
not surprising that in his advanced 
age he sometimes exhibited a domi- 
neering disposition. As long as Min- 
nesota exists, he should be known 
as one given to hospitality. He 
invariably showed himself to be a 
friend to the Indian, the traveller, 
and the missionary. Aware of the 
improvidence of his mother's race, 
he used his influence towards the 
raising of grain. He was instru- 
mental in having the first seed corn 
planted on the Upper Minnesota. 
An Indian never left his house 
hungry, and they delighted to do 
him honour. He was a friend to the 
traveller. His conversation was in- 
telligent, and he constantly commu- 



476 



HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. 



a shanty at what is now the principal steamboat land- 
ing in St. Paul. Ignorant and overbearing, he loved 
money more than his soul. Destitute of one eye, and 



nicated facts that were worthy of re- 
cord. His post obtained a reputation 
among explorers, and their last 
day's journey to it was generally a 
quick march, for they felt sure of a 
warm welcome. His son was the 
interpreter of Nicollet, that worthy 
man of science who explored this 
country in connection with Fremont. 
This gentlemen, in his report to 
Congress, pays the following tribute 
to the father and son : — 

" I may stop a while to say, that 
the residence of the Renville family, 
for a number of years back, has 
afforded the only retreat to travellers 
to be found between St. Peter's and 
the British posts, a distance of seven 
hundred miles. The liberal and 
untiring hospitality dispensed by 
this respectable family, the great 
influence exercised by it over the 
Indians of this country in the main- 
tenance of peace and the protection 
of travellers, would demand, besides 
our gratitude, some especial acknow- 
ledgment of the United States, and 
also from the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany." 

The only traveller that has ever 
given any testimony opposed to this 
is Featherstonhaugh, a dyspeptic and 
growling Englishman, whose book, 
published in London in 1847, and 
styled a ' Canoe Voyage up the 
Minnay Sotor,* betrays a filthy im- 
agination. He remarks : — 

" On reaching the fort, Renville 
advanced and saluted me, but not 
cordially. He was a dark, Indian- 



looking person, showing no white 
blood, short in his stature, with 
strong features and coarse black 
hair. ***** I learnt that 
Renville entertained a company of 
stout Indians to the number of fifty, 
in a skin lodge behind his house, of 
extraordinary dimensions, whom he 
calls his braves, or soldiers. To 
these men he confided various trusts, 
and occasionally sent them to distant 
points to transact his business. No 
doubt he was a very intriguing per- 
son, and uncertain in his attach- 
ments. Those who knew him inti- 
mately, supposed him inclined to the 
British allegiance although he pro- 
fesses great attachment to the Amer- 
ican government, a circumstance, 
however, which did not prevent him 
from being under the surveillance 
of the garrison at Fort Snelling." 

He was also a friend to the Mis- 
sionary of the Cross. Until the year 
1834, no minister of the church, 
made arrangements to devote his 
life to the spiritual and temporal 
welfare of the Dahkotahs. 

The Rev. T. S. Williamson, M.D., 
of the Presbytery of Chilicothe, ar- 
rived at Fort Snelling in 1834 ; then 
returned to the East, and in 1835 
came back with assistant mission- 
aries. Renville warmly welcomed 
him, and rendered him invaluable 
assistance in the establishment of 
the missions. Upon the arrival of 
the missionaries at Lac qui Parle, 
he provided them with a temporary 
home. He acted as interpreter, he 



ORIGIN OF THE TERM "PIG'S EYE. 



47 



the other resembling that of a pig, he was a good repre- 
sentative of Caliban. 

In the year 1842, some one writing a letter in his 



assisted in translating the Scrip- 
tures, and removed many of the pre- 
judices of the Indians against the 
teachers of the white man's religion. 
His name appears in connection 
with several Dahkotah books. Dr. 
Watts' second Catechism for child- 
ren, published in Boston, in 1837, 
by Crocker & Brewster, was partly 
translated by him. 

In 1839, a volume of extracts from 
the Old Testament, and a volume 
containing the Gospel of Mark, was 
published by Kendell & Henry, Cin- 
cinnati, the translation of which was 
given orally by Mr. Renville, and 
penned by Dr. Williamson. Crocker 
&, Brewster, in 1842, published Dah- 
kotah Dowanpi Kin, or Dahkotah 
Hymns, many of which were com- 
posed by the subject of this sketch. 
The following tribute to his ability 
as a translator, appeared in the Mis- 
sionary Herald of 1846, published at 
Boston : — 

" Mr. Renville was a remarkable 
man, and he was remarkable for the 
energy with which he pursued such 
objects as he deemed of primary im- 
portance. His power of observing 
and remembering facts, and also 
words expressive of simple ideas, was 
extraordinary. Though in his latter 
years he could read a little, yet in 
translating he seldom took a book in 
his hand, choosing to depend on 
hearing rather than sight, and I 
have often had occasion to observe, 
that after hearing a long and unfa- 
miliar verse read from the Scrip- 



tures, he would immediately render 
it from the French into Dahkotah, 
two languages extremely unlike in 
their idioms and ideas of the words, 
and repeat it over two or three words 
at a time, so as to give full opportu- 
nity to write it down. He also had 
a remarkable tact in discovering the 
aim of a speaker, and conveying the 
intended impression, when many of 
the ideas and words were such as 
had nothing corresponding to them 
in the minds and language of the 
addressed. These qualities fitted 
him for an interpreter, and it was 
generally admitted he had no equal." 

It would be improper to conclude 
this article without some remarks 
upon the religious character of Ren- 
ville. Years before there was a 
clergyman in Minnesota, he took his 
Indian wife to Prairie du Chien, and 
was married in accordance with 
Christian rites by a minister of the 
Roman Church. Before he became 
acquainted with missionaries, he 
sent for a large folio Bible in the 
French language, and requested 
those connected* with him in the fur 
trade to procure for him a clerk who 
could read it. This Bible was pro- 
bably the first Bible in Minnesota, 
and in itself valuable for its anti- 
quity. It was printed at Geneva, 
in 1588, and had a Latin preface by 
John Calvin, the great Reformer. 

The writer, in 1853, requested Dr. 
Williamson, of the Dahkotah Mis- 
sion, to procure this same copy for 
the Historical Society. At his soli- 



478 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



groggery, for the want of a more euphonious name, 
designated the place as "Pig's Eye/' referring to the 
peculiar appearance of the whiskey-seller. The reply 



citation, one of the sons of the late 
Mr. Kenville, brought it to the Mis- 
sion House at Lac qui Parle, to be 
forwarded to St. Paul. Before an 
opportunity occurred, the Mission 
House, with all of its contents, was 
consumed by fire. 

After the commencement of the 
mission at Lac qui Parle, his wife 
was the first full Dahkotah that join- 
ed the Church of Christ, of whom we 
have any record. She was also the 
first Dahkotah that died in the 
Christian faith. Before she had 
ever seen a teacher of the religion 
of Christ, through the instruction 
of her husband she had renounced 
the gods of the Dahkotahs. The 
following is an extract from a trans- 
lation of Mr. Kenville's account of 
his wife's death : — " Now, to-day, 
you seem very much exhausted, and 
she said ' yes ; this day, now God 
invites me. I am remembering 
Jesus Christ who suffered for me, 
and depending on him alone. To- 
day I shall stand before God, and 
will ask him for mercy for you, and 
for all my children, and all my 
kinsfolk." 

Afterwards, when all her children 
and relatives sat round her weeping, 
she said, " it is holy day, sing and 
pray." From very early in the 
morning, she was speaking of God, 
and telling her husband what to do. 
Thus she died "when the clock 
struck two." 

Like Nicodemus, one of the rulers 
of Israel, he loved to inquire in 



relation to spiritual things. Of 
independent mind, he claimed and 
exercised the right of private judg- 
ment in matters of faith. 

In 1841, he was chosen and or- 
dained a ruling elder, and from 
that time, till his death, discharged 
the duties of his office in a manner 
acceptable and profitable both to the 
native members of the church and 
the mission. 

After a sickness of some days, in 
March, 1846, his strong frame began 
to give evidence of speedy decay. 
He was aware he was soon to take 
" his chamber in the silent halls of 
death," but he knew "in whom he 
had believed," and went, 

" Not like the quarry slave, at night 
Scourged to his dungeon; but sustained and 

soothed, 
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams!" 

Dr. "Williamson thus narrates the 
death-scene: "The evening before 
•his decease, he asked me what be- 
came of the soul immediately after 
death? I reminded him of our 
Saviour's words to the thief on the 
cross, and Paul's desire to depart 
and be with Christ. He said, ' That 
is sufficient/ and presently added, 
' I have great hope I shall be saved 
through grace.' Next morning ( Sun- 
day) about eight o'clock, I was called 
to see him. He was so evidently in 
the agonies of death, I did not think 
of attempting to do anything for him. 
After some time, his breathing; be- 
coming easier, he was asked if he 



FIRST STORE AT ST. PAUL. 



479 



to the letter was directed in good faith to " Pig's Eye," 
and was received in due time. 

In 1842, the late Henry Jackson, of Mahkahto, 
settled at the same spot, and erected the first store on 
the height just above the lower landing ; and shortly 



wished to hear a hymn. He replied, 
'Yes/ After it was sung he said, 
1 It is very good/ As he reclined 
on the bed, I saw a sweet serenity 
settling on his countenance, and I 
thought that his severest struggle 
was probably past, and so it proved. 
The clock striking ten, he looked at it 
and intimated that it was time for 
us to go to church. As we were 
about to leave, he extended his 
withered hand. After we left, he 
spoke some words of exhortation to 
his family, then prayed, and before 
noon calmly and quietly yielded up 
his spirit." 

Sixty-seven years passed by, before 
he closed his eyes upon the world. 
The citizens of Kentucky delight in 
the memory of Daniel Boone; let 
the citizens of Minnesota not forget 
Joseph Renville, though he was a 
" bois brule." 

His descendants are still living 
among the Dahkotahs. The son who 
bore his name, died on February 
eighth, 1856, in the neighbourhood 
of the mission at Payutazee. The 
Rev. S. R. Riggs, in a communica- 
tion to the St. Paul Daily Times, 
remarks : — 

" The deceased was about forty- 
seven years of age, a son of Joseph 
Renville, who died at Lac qui Parle 
some years since, and whose memory 
is identified with the past history of 



Minnesota. Inheriting from his 
father many noble and generous 
qualities, unfortunately for himself 
and family, the habits of the Indian 
trade in which the deceased was 
educated, were not such as enabled 
him to gain a comfortable livelihood 
by labour. After the death of his 
father, he removed with his family to 
the Mississippi, and resided for some 
time at Kaposia, with Little Crow's 
band, many of whom were his 
mother's relatives. Soon after the 
cession of this Minnesota country to 
the United States, he with a younger 
brother, and cousin of the same 
family name, removed up to the 
neighbourhood of Fort Ridgley. 
When they attended the payment at 
Yellow Medicine, he was already far 
gone in the disease which has just 
terminated his earthly career. Here, 
in the house of a younger brother, 
and with other relations, he with 
his family found a temporary home, 
and a place to die. Through the 
kindness of friends and neighbours, 
they have not wanted. It has been 
pleasant to see that former kind- 
nesses received from the family when 
his father was a prince in wealth 
among them, have not been entirely 
forgotten by the Dahkotahs, but 
have been returned now to the son 
in his sickness." 



480 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

after, Eoberts and Simpson followed, and opened small 
Indian trading shops. In the year 1846, the site of St. 
Paul was chiefly occupied by a few shanties, owned by 
"certain lewd fellows of the baser sort," who sold rum 
to the soldier and Indian. It was despised by all decent 
white men, and known to the Dahkotahs by an expres- 
sion in their tongue, which means, the place where they 
sell minne-wakan. 1 

The chief of the Kaposia band in 1846, was shot by 
his own brother in a drunken revel, but surviving the 
wound, and apparently alarmed at the deterioration 
under the influence of the modern harpies at St. Paul, 
went to Mr. Bruce, Indian agent, at Fort Snelling, and 
requested a missionary. The Indian agent in his 
report to government, says : — 

"The chief of the Little Crow's band, who reside below 
this place (Fort Snelling) about nine miles, in the im- 
mediate neighbourhood of the whiskey dealers, has 
requested to have a school established at his village. He 
says they are determined to reform, and for the future, 
will try to do better. I wrote to Doctor Williamson 
soon after the request was made, desiring him to take 
charge of the school. He has had charge of the mis- 
sion school at Lac qui Parle for some years ; is well 
qualified, and is an excellent physician." 

In November, 1846, Dr. Williamson came from Lac 
qui Parle as requested, and became a resident of Ka- 
posia. While disapproving of their practices, he felt a 
kindly interest in the whites of Pig's Eye, which place 
was now beginning to be called, after a little log chapel 

1 Supernatural water. 



ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF CITY OF ST. PAUL. 



481 



which had been erected by the voyageurs, St. Paul's. 1 
Though a missionary among the Dahkotahs, he was 
the first to take steps to promote the education of the 
whites and half-breeds of Minnesota. In the year 1847, 
he wrote to Ex-Governor Slade, President of the Na- 
tional Popular Education Society, in relation to the 
condition of what has subsequently become the capital 
of the state. 2 



1 St. Paul was then called St. 
Paul's, because at that time refer- 
ence was had to the chapel of St. 
Paul, the designation of the log 
church. 

2 The letter of Dr. Williamson 
gives, probably, the first description 
of the hamlet of St. Paul as it was 
in 1847 :— 

" My present residence is on the 
utmost verge of civilization, in the 
north-western part of the United 
States, within a few miles of the 
principal village of white men in 
the territory that we suppose will 
bear the name of Minnesota, which 
some would render ' clear water/ 
though strictly it signifies slightly 
turbid or whitish water. 

"The village referred to has grown 
up within a few years in a romantic 
situation on a high bluff of the Mis- 
sissippi, and has been baptized by 
the Roman Catholics, by the name 
*f St. Paul. They have erected in 
it a small chapel, and constitute 
much the larger portion of the inha- 
bitants. The Dahkotahs call it Im- 
ni-ja-ska (white- rock), from the 
colour of the sandstone which forms 
the bluff on which the village stands. 
31 



This village has five stores, as they 
call them, at all of which intoxicat- 
ing drinks constitute a part, and I 
suppose the principal part, of what 
they sell. I would suppose the vil- 
lage contains a dozen or twenty fa- 
milies living near enough to send to 
school. Since I came to this neigh- 
bourhood I have had frequent occa- 
sion to visit the village, and have 
been grieved to see so many children 
growing up entirely ignorant of God, 
and unable to read his Word, with 
no one to teach them. Unless your 
Society can send them a teacher, 
there seems to be little prospect of 
their having one for several years. 
A few days since, I went to the place 
for the purpose of making inquiries 
in reference to the prospect of a 
school. I visited seven families, in 
which there were twenty-three child- 
ren of proper age to attend school, 
and was told of five more in which 
were thirteen more that it is sup- 
posed might attend, making thirty- 
six in twelve families. I suppose 
more than half of the parents of these 
children are unable to read them- 
selves, and care but little about hav- 
ing their children taught. Possibly 



482 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



In accordance with his request, Miss H. E. Bishop 
came to his mission-house at Kaposia, and, after a short 
time, was introduced by him to the citizens of St. Paul. 
The first school-house in Minnesota besides those con- 
nected with the Indian missions, stood on the site of the 
First Presbyterian Church, and is thus described by 
the teacher: — 

" The school was commenced in a little log hovel, 
covered with bark, and chinked with mud, previously 
used as a blacksmith shop. It was a room about ten 
by twelve feet. On three sides of the interior of this 
humble log cabin, pegs were driven into the logs, upon 
which boards were laid for seats. Another seat was 
made by placing one end of a plank between the cracks 
of the logs, and the other upon a chair. This was for 



the priest might deter some from at- 
tending, who might otherwise be 
able and willing. 

" I suppose a good female teacher 
can do more to promote the cause of 
education and true religion than a 
man. The natural politeness of the 
French (who constitute more than 
half the population) would cause 
them to be kind and courteous to a 
female, even though the priest should 
seek to cause opposition. I suppose 
she might have twelve or fifteen 
scholars to begin with, and if she 
should have a good talent of winning 
the affections of children (and one 
who has not should not come), after 
a few months she would have as 
many as she could attend to. 

"-One woman told me she had 
four children she wished to send to 



school, and that she would give 
boarding and a room in her house to 
a good female teacher, for the tuition 
of her children. 

" A teacher for this place should 
love the Saviour, and for his sake 
should be willing to forego, not only 
many of the religious privileges and 
elegances of New England towns, 
but some of the neatness also. She 
should be entirely free from preju- 
dice on account of colour, for among 
her scholars she might find not only 
English, French, and Swiss, but 
Sioux and Chippewas, with some 
claiming kindred with the African 
stock. 

" A teacher coming should bring 
books with her sufficient to begin a 
school, as there is no book ^tore- 
within three hundred miles." 



FIRST SCHOOL-HOUSE IN WHITE SETTLEMENTS. 483 

visiters. A rickety cross-legged table in the centre, and 
a lien's nest in one corner, completed the furniture." 1 

St. Croix county, in the year 1847, was detached 
from Crawford county, Wisconsin, and reorganized for 
judicial purposes, and Stillwater made the county seat. 
In the month of June the United States District Court 
held its session in the store-room of Mr. John McKusick : 
Judge Charles Dunn presiding. A large number of 
lumbermen had been attracted by the pineries in the 
upper portion of the valley of St. Croix, and Stillwater 
was looked upon as the centre of the lumbering interest. 

The Kev. Mr. Boutwell, feeling that he could be more 
useful, left the Ojibways, and took up his residence near 
Stillwater, preaching to the lumbermen at the Falls of 
St. Croix, Marine Mills, Stillwater, and Cottage Grove. 
In a letter, speaking of Stillwater, he says, " Here is a 
little village sprung up like a gourd, but whether it is 
to perish as soon, God only knows." 

For a long time it had been thought expedient to 
change the location of the Winnebago Indians, from the 
neutral ground of Iowa, to a point more remote from 
white men. By the terms of a treaty, made at Wash- 
ington in October, 1846, they agreed to recede from 
their possessions, in Iowa, in the year 1848. Hon. 
Henry M. Rice had selected for them a new home, and 
with difficulty obtained it from the Ojibways, between 
the Sauk and Long Prairie, and Crow Wing rivers. 

In the spring of 1848 their agent, Mr. J. E. Fletcher, 
discovered that a large portion of the tribe were desirous 
of emigrating to the Missouri, and grumbled at the pre- 
parations to remove northward. The treaty granted 

1 " Floral Sketches," by Miss II. E. Bishop, p. 87. 



484 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

twenty thousand dollars to the Indians, to pay the ex- 
penses of their removal to their new location, to be paid 
after they arrived there. As no one was willing to trust 
Indians, for large amounts, Mr. Kice, and a few others, 
were obliged to advance the supplies necessary for the 
support of the tribe. 

The difficulty in relation to subsistence being over- 
come, it was agreed that the tribe should move in two 
parties, one in canoes and boats up the Mississippi, in 
charge of Mr. Rice, the other by land, under the direc- 
tion of Agent Fletcher. When the appointed time came 
to start, June the sixth, 1848, the Indians dallied, and 
the agent grew impatient, and, in the hope of hurrying 
them, had their baggage placed in the wagons, which 
was as quickly thrown out again by the savages. The 
agent sent for the troops at Fort Atkinson, and the 
Indians made ready for battle. The troops remained 
drawn up in hostile array until dark ; the next day an 
appeal was made to the stomach of the Winnebagoes, 
always potent : beef was plentifully distributed, and a 
calm ensued. 

The land party now agreed to move, provided they 
could join the river detachment at Wapashaw Prairie. 
At Wapashaw they arrived without any trouble, and 
found Mr. Rice, with his division of the tribe, and the 
company of volunteers that had accompanied him, wait- 
ing for their appearance. Almost the entire nation, 
with the exception of Little Hill, instead of encamping 
on the river bank, near the whites, sought the land 
beneath the bluffs, thus causing a creek and slough to 
intervene. 

Pleased with the appearance of the prairie, where the 
town of Winona now stands, they purchased it of Wapa- 



WINNEBAGOES DESIRE TO SETTLE AT WINONA. 4b5 

shaw, the Dahkotah chief, and expressed their deter- 
mination not to move a step further. Wapashaw and 
his band uniting with them, they made war speeches, 
prepared for battle, and worked themselves into frenzy 
Mr. Rice, perceiving that this was a critical juncture, 
chartered a steamboat that happened to be there, and 
it was hurried to Fort Snelling. 

By request, Captain S. H. Eastman came down with 
a company of infantry, and a party of Dahkotah s from 
the Minnesota river, who came to welcome the Winne- 
bagoes, and say that they would be pleased to have 
them, in the place of the Ojibways, for their neighbours 
on the north. The company of volunteers from Crawford 
county, the United States dragoons from Fort Atkinson, 
and the infantry from Fort Snelling, and sixty armed 
teamsters, were now placed under the command of 
Eastman. The Indians, arrayed on the other side of 
the slough, numbered about twelve hundred. The 
next day was appointed for a council, between the 
Winnebagoes and the Dahkotahs of the Minnesota 
river. 

The day was one of those beautiful days in June 
which so charm the resident of Minnesota, and the 
troops were all drawn out ready for service at a mo- 
ment's warning ; the teamsters, near the wagons, under 
Mr. Culver, now deceased on the right, the infantry 
in the centre, with two six-pounders charged with 
grape ; the dragoons on the left. About ten o'clock in 
the morning, the Indians, chiefly on horseback, painted 
and decked with all their war ornaments, marched 
around the head of the slough toward the camp. 

A mile from the council ground they halted, and sent 
forward a deputation to ask " Why the array of glitter- 



486 ' HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

ing muskets, as they supposed they were coming to 
council, and not to fight ?" Captain Eastman replied, 
" that he was prepared for either : if they wished to 
hold a council, they would not be molested.' ■ Permis- 
sion being granted, they rode around the arranged 
council ground and returned. In a moment the whole 
cavalcade, twelve abreast, were in motion toward the 
United States troops ; and as the terrific war whoop was 
sounded, the Americans began to think that they might 
feel the scalping knife. Everything was made ready 
for the worst : the cannon were loaded, and soldiers 
stood by with the lighted matches, waiting for the voice 
of command. 

While the council was proceeding between the Dah- 
kotahs and Winnebagoes, an Indian and a soldier met, 
and were about to fight. Should either party fire, the 
slaughter would be instantaneous, as both sides knew ; 
and the excitement for a moment was intense. By the 
timely interposition of Mr. Eice and others, the Indian 
and soldier were led away, and the danger passed. 

During the rest of the day the Indians were in coun- 
cil, but, sustained by Wapashaw, they still remained 
firm in their determination not to leave that prairie. 
Little Hill, and a small band of Winnebagoes, had never 
sympathized in the revolt ; and at last, Agent Fletcher, 
taking them on board of a steamboat, carried them up 
to Fort Snelling, leaving matters at Wapashaw in charge 
of Mr. Kice. 

This sudden movement was a great surprise to the 
disaffected, and by the efforts of Mr. E. A. Hatch, S. 
B. Lowry, George Culver and others, they began to 
waver, and by the time the boat came back seventeen 
hundred were ready to embark ; the remainder retreat- 



H. M. RICE ARRESTS WAPASHAW. 487 

Ing towards the Missouri river or into Wisconsin. Mr. 
Rice, with a lieutenant and two soldiers, now proceeded 
to the lodge of Wapashaw, and arresting him, he was 
sent a prisoner to Fort Snelling. 

About the first of July, the Winnebagoes began to 
move again ; but on their route, those who had charge 
of the Indians were much annoyed by creatures that 
were destitute of the instincts of manhood, selling liquor 
to them. As a precaution against further difficulty, 
orders were given to destroy all the whiskey that was 
discovered on the line of march. About the first of 
August they arrived at Watab in their new country, 
on the west side of the Mississippi, above St. Cloud. 1 

1 For the facts concerning the re- George Culver, of St. Paul, and ' to 
moval, I am indebted to a manu- conversations with Hon. Henry M 
script kindly furnished me by Mr. Rice. 



488 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Three years elapsed from the time that the Territory 
of Minnesota was proposed in Congress to the final pas- 
sage of the organic act. On the sixth of August, 1846, 
an act was passed by Congress authorizing the citizens 
of Wisconsin Territory to frame a constitution, and 
form a state government. The act fixed the St. Louis 
river to the rapids, from thence south to the St. Croix, 
and thence down that river to its junction with the 
Mississippi, as the western boundary. 

On the twenty-third of December, 1846, the delegate 
from Wisconsin, Morgan L. Martin, introduced a bill in 
Congress for the organization of a territory of Minne- 
sota. This bill made its western boundary the Sioux 
and Red River of the North. On the third of March, 
1847, permission was granted to Wisconsin to change 
her boundary, so that the western limit would proceed 
due south from the first rapids of the St. Louis river^ 
and fifteen miles east of the most easterly point of Lake 
St. Croix, thence to the Mississippi. 

A number in the constitutional convention of Wis- 
consin were anxious that Rum river should be a part 
of her western boundary, while citizens of the valley 
of St. Croix were desirous that the Chippeway river 




MtlKIG&V (Hla^DISdllVo 



GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA. 



REMONSTRANCE AGAINST PROPOSED BOUNDARY. 489 

should be the limit of Wisconsin. The citizens of Wis- 
consin Territory, in the valley of the St. Croix, and 
about Fort Snelling, wished to be included in the pro- 
jected new territory, and on the twenty-eighth of March, 
1848, a memorial signed by H. H. Sibley, Henry M. 
Rice, Franklin Steele, William R. Marshall and others, 
was presented to Congress, remonstrating against the 
proposition before the convention to make Rum river a 
portion of the boundary line of the contemplated state 
of Wisconsin. The petitioners remark : — 

" Your memorialists conceive it to be the intention 
of your honourable bodies so to divide the present terri- 
tory of Wisconsin as to form two states nearly equal in 
size as well as other respects. A line drawn due south 
from Shagwamigan Bay, on Lake Superior, to the inter- 
section of the main Chippeway river, and from thence 
down the middle of said stream to its debouchure into 
the Mississippi, would seem to your memorialists a very 
proper and equitable division, which, while it would 
secure to Wisconsin a portion of the Lake Superior 
shore, would also afford to Minnesota some countervail- 
ing advantages. But if the northern line should be 
changed, as suggested by the convention, Minnesota 
would not have a single point on the Mississippi below 
the Falls of St. Anthony, which is the limit of steam- 
boat navigation. This alone, to the apprehension of 
your memorialists, would be a good and sufficient reason 
why the mouth of Rum river should not be the bound- 
ary, as that stream pours its waters into the Mississippi 
uearly twenty miles above the Falls. Besides this, the 
Chippeway and St. Croix valleys are closely connected 
in geographical position with the Upper Mississippi, 
while they are widely separated from the settled parts 



490 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

of Wisconsin, not only by hundreds of miles of mostly 
waste and barren lands, which must remain uncultivated 
for ages, but equally so by a diversity of interests and 
character in the population." 

On the twenty. ninth of May, 1848, the act to admit 
Wisconsin changed their boundary line to the present, 
and as first defined in the enabling act of 1846. After 
the bill of Mr. Martin was introduced into the House 
of Representatives in 1846 it was referred to the Com- 
mittee on Territories, of which Mr. Douglas was chair- 
man. On the twentieth of January, 1847, he reported 
in favour of the proposed territory with the name of 
Itasca. On the seventeenth of February, before the 
bill passed the House, a discussion arose in relation to 
the proposed names. Mr. Winthrop of Massachusetts 
proposed Chippeway as a substitute, alleging that this 
tribe was the principal in the proposed territory, which 
was not correct. Mr. J. Thomson of Mississippi dis- 
liked all Indian names, and hoped that the territory 
would be called Jackson. Mr. Houston of Delaware 
thought that there ought to be one territory named after 
the " Father of his country," and proposed Washington. 
All of the names proposed were rejected, and the name 
in the original bill inserted. On the last day of the 
session, March third, the bill was called up in the 
Senate and laid on the table. 

When Wisconsin became a state the query arose 
whether the old territorial government did not continue 
in force west of the St. Croix river. The first meeting 
on the subject of claiming territorial privileges was held 
in the building at St. Paul, known as Jackson's store, 
near the corner of Bench and Jackson streets, on the 
bluff. This meeting was held in July, and a convention 




" J J CSELD K3 @Tf[EE[L(I 



PUBLIC MEETING AT STILLWATER. 



491 



was proposed to consider their position. The first pub- 
lic meeting 1 was held at Stillwater on August fourth, and 
Messrs. Steele and Sibley were the only persons present 
from the west side of the Mississippi. This meeting 
issued a call for a general convention to take steps to 
secure an early territorial organization, to assemble on 
the twenty-sixth of the month at the same place. 
Sixty-two delegates answered the call, and to the con- 
vention a letter 2 was presented from Mr. Catlin, who 



1 Among those present, were W. 
D. Phillips, J. W. Bass, A. Larpen- 
teur, J. McBoal, and others from St. 
Paul. 

2 " Madison, August 22, 1848. 
Hon. Wm. Holcombe : 

" Dear Sir : I take the liberty to 
-write you briefly for the purpose of 
ascertaining what the citizens of the 
present Territory of Wisconsin desire 
in relation to the organization of a 
territorial government. Congress 
adjourned on the fourteenth instant, 
without taking any steps to organize 
the Territory of Minnesota, or of 
amending the act of 1836, organizing 
Wisconsin, so that the present go- 
vernment could be successfully con- 
tinued. 

" I have given Mr. Bowron, by 
whom I send this, a copy of Mr. 
Buchanan's opinion, by which he 
gives it as his opinion that the laws 
of Wisconsin are in force in your 
territory; and if the laws are in 
force, I think it is equally clear that 
the officers necessary to carry out 
those laws are still in office. After 
the organization of the State of 
Michigan, but before her admission, 
Gen. G. W. Jones was elected by 



the Territory of Michigan (now 
State of Wisconsin), and was allowed 
to take his seat. 

" It is my opinion that if your peo- 
ple were to elect a delegate this fall, 
he would be allowed to take his seat 
in December, and then a government 
might be fully organized: and 
unless a delegate is elected and sent 
on, I do not believe a government 
will be organized for several years. 
You are aware of the difficulty which 
has prevented the organization of 
Oregon for two years past ; and the 
same difficulty will prevent the 
organization of Minnesota. If Mr. 
Tweedy were to resign, (and he 
would if requested), I do not see 
anything to prevent my issuing a 
proclamation for an election to fill 
the vacancy, as the acting governor ; 
but I should not like to do so unless 
the people would act under it, and 
hold the election. 

" If a delegate was elected by co- 
lour of law, Congress never would in- 
quire into the legality of the election. 

" It is the opinion of almost all this 
way that the government of the 
Territory of Wisconsin still conti- 
nues, although it is nearly inopera- 



492 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

claimed to be acting governor, giving his opinion that 
the Wisconsin territorial organization was still in force. 
The meeting also appointed Mr. Sibley to visit Wash- 
ington and represent their views ; but the Hon. John 
H. Tweedy having resigned his office of delegate to 
Congress on September eighteenth, 1848, Mr. Catlin, 
who had made Stillwater a temporary residence, on 
the ninth of October issued a proclamation ordering 
a special election at Stillwater on the thirtieth, to fill 
the vacancy ' occasioned by the resignation. At this 
election Henry H. Sibley was elected as delegate of the 
citizens of the remaining portion of Wisconsin Territory. 
His credentials were presented to the House of Repre- 
sentatives, and the committee to whom the matter was 
referred presented a majority and minority report ; but 
the resolution introduced by the majority passed, and 
Mr. Sibley took his seat as a delegate from Wisconsin 
Territory on the fifteenth of January, 1849. 

Mr. H. M. Rice, and other gentlemen, visited Wash- 
ington during the winter, and, uniting with Mr. Sibley, 
used all their energies to obtain the organization of a 
new territory. 

On the third of March, 1849, a bill was passed or- 
ganizing the Territory of Minnesota, 1 whose boundary 

tive, for want of a court and legisla- " I shall be pleased to hear from 

ture. you at your earliest convenience. 

"I write in haste, and have not " Yours very respectfully, 

time to state further the reasons " John Catlin." 

which lead me to the conclusion that * Boundaries of the Territory of 

the territorial government is still Minnesota: — 

in being; but you can confer with "Beginning in the Mississippi 
Mr. Bowron, who, I believe, is in river, at the point where the line of 
possession of the views and opinions forty-three degrees and thirty mi- 
entertained here on the subject. nutes of north latitude crosses the 




boek"; 



TERRITORY OF MINNESOTA CREATED. 493 

on the west extended to the Missouri river. At the 
time of the passage of the bill, organizing the Territory 
of Minnesota, the region was little more than a wilder- 
ness. The west bank of the Mississippi, from the Iowa 
line to Lake Itasca, was unceded by the Indians. 

At Wapashaw was a trading-post in charge of Alexis 
Bailly, of whom mention has been made, and here also 
resided the ancient voyageur, of fourscore years, A. 
Rocque. At the foot of Lake Pepin was a store-house 
kept by Mr. F. S. Richards. On the west shore of the 
lake lived the eccentric Wells, whose wife was a bois 
brule — a daughter of the deceased trader, Duncan Gra- 
ham. The two unfinished buildings of stone, on the 
beautiful bank opposite the renowned Maiden's Rock, 
and the surrounding skin lodges of his wife's relatives 
and friends, presented a rude but picturesque scene. 
Above the lake was a cluster of bark wigwams, the 
Dahkotah village of Raymneecha, now Red Wing, at 
which was a Presbyterian mission-house. The next 
settlement was Kaposia, also an Indian village, and the 
residence of a Presbyterian missionary, the Rev. T. S. 
Williamson, M. D. 

same, thence running due west on United States and Great Britain ; 
said line, which is the northern thence east and south of east along 
boundary of the State of Iowa, to the boundary line between the pos- 
the north-west corner of the said sessions of the United States and 
State of Iowa, thence southerly along Great Britain, to Lake Superior; 
the western boundary of said State thence in a straight line to the north- 
to the point where said boundary ernmost point of the State of Wis- 
strikes the Missouri river, thence up consin in Lake Superior ; thence 
the middle of the main channel of along the western boundary line of 
the Missouri river, to the mouth of said State of Wisconsin, to the Miss- 
White Earth river, thence up the issippi river ; thence down the main 
middle of the main channel of the channel of said river to the place of 
White Earth river to the boundary beginning." 
line between the possessions of the 



494 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

On the east side of the Mississippi, the first settle- 
ment, at the mouth of the St. Croix, was Point Douglas, 
then, as now, a small hamlet. At Red Rock, the site 
of a former Methodist mission station, there were a few 
farmers. St. Paul was just emerging from a collection 
of Indian whiskey shops, and birch-roofed cabins of 
half-breed voyageurs. Here and there a frame tene- 
ment was erected ; and, under the auspices of the Hon. 
H. M. Rice, who had obtained an interest in the town, * 
some warehouses were being constructed, and the foun- 
dations of the American House were laid. In 1849, the 
population had increased to two hundred and fifty or 
three hundred inhabitants, for rumours had gone abroad 
that it might be mentioned in the act, creating the ter- 
ritory, as the capital. 

More than a month after the adjournment of Con- 
gress, just at eve, on the ninth of April, amid terrific 
peals of thunder and torrents of rain, the weekly steam- 
packet, the first to force its way through the icy barrier 
of Lake Pepin, rounded the rocky point, whistling loud 
and long, as if the bearer of glad tidings. Before she 
was safely moored to the landing, the shouts of the ex- 
cited villagers announced that there was a Territory of 
Minnesota, and that St. Paul was the seat of govern- 
ment. Every successive steamboat arrival poured out 
on the landing men big with hope, and anxious to do 
something to mould the future of the new state. 

Nine days after the news of the existence of the Ter- 
ritory of Minnesota was received, there arrived Jame& 
M. Goodhue with press, types, and printing apparatus. 
A graduate of Amherst College, and a lawyer by pro- 
fession, he wielded a sharp pen, and wrote editorials, 
which, more than anything else, perhaps, induced immi- 



ALEXANDER RAMSEY, FIRST GOVERNOR. 49i> 

gration. Though a man of some glaring faults, one of 
the counties properly bears his name. On the twenty- 
eighth of April, he issued the first number of the 
"Pioneer." 1 

On the twenty-seventh of May, Alexander Ramsey, 
the governor, and family arrived at St. Paul, but, owing 
to the crowded state of the public-houses, immediately 
proceeded in the steamer to the establishment of the fur 
company known as Mendota, at the junction of the Min- 
nesota and Mississippi, and became the guest of the Hon. 
H. H. Sibley. 

For several weeks there resided, at the confluence of 
these rivers, four individuals who, more than any other 
men, have been identified with the public interests of 
Minnesota, and given the state its present character. 
Their names are attached to the thriving counties of 
Ramsey, Rice, Sibley, and Steele. 

" As unto the bow, the cord is, 
So unto the man is the woman, 
Though she bends him, she obeys him, 
Though she draws him, yet she follows, 
Useless each without the other ;" 

Therefore we venture, fully aware of the extreme 
delicacy of the undertaking, to attempt a portrait, not 
only of these citizens, but of those who are their wives, 

1 By advertisements in its columns, John J. Dewey, as doctor ; Miss Bi- 

David Lambert, deceased, and Wil- shop as school teacher; and Rev. E. 

liam D. Phillips, of Washington City, D. Neill, as a resident clergyman ; 

appear as the only lawyers ; J. W. W. H. Nobles, and D. C. Taylor, as 

Bass and Lott Moffett, keepers of blacksmiths ; John R. Irvine, as plas- 

houses of entertainment ; Forbes, terer ; C. P. Lull, as house builder ; 

Myrick, Simpson, Fuller & Brother, B. W. Brunson, surveyor, 
and David Olmsted, as traders; 



496 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

and who must always be considered as among the pro- 
minent early settlers. 

Alexander Ramsey is still in the prime of life, and 
was born near the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. - 
Blessed with worthy and industrious parents, he was 
not trained to habits of idleness. From an early period, 
he betrayed a fondness for reading, and amid difficulties 
which would have deterred many, he persevered until 
he succeeded in entering Lafayette College, at Easton, 
Pennsylvania. Circumstances were such that he re- 
mained but a brief period. A correspondent of the 
Public Ledger, of Philadelphia, under date of April 
fourth, 1849, thus writes : — 

" By untiring industry and perseverance, he struggled 
through the study of law, and was admitted to the bar 
of Dauphin county. The first public office ever held 
by him, was that of Secretary of the Harrison Electoral 
College of 1840. A month afterward, in January, 1841, 
he was elected Clerk of the House of Representatives 
of Pennsylvania. In 1843, he was nominated by the 
Whig Conference as a candidate for Congress, to repre- 
sent the district, embracing the counties of Dauphin, 
Lebanon, and Schuylkill. He was elected by a decisive 
majority; and in Harrisburg, his place of residence, 
which before had given a Democratic majority, there 
was a large vote in his favour. His course in Congress 
was marked rather by a practical business devotion to 
his duties, than by any effort at oratorical display. He 
was nominated and re-elected for a second term ; and in 
1846, declined in favour of another. He is social and 
good-humoured, but cool, cautious, shrewd, and perse- 
vering. He is a man of very large perceptive powers, 
and of much grasp of intellect ; altogether what might 



ANNA E. RAMSEY. 497 

be termed a man of a good deal of force of character. 
He speaks well, not eloquently; but to the point, quite 
as fluently in German as in English." No longer 

" In the land of the Dahkotahs, 
Lives the arrowmaker's daughter, 
Minnehaha, Laughing Water, 
Handsomest of all the women ;" 

Yet the first governor of the territory appears to 
have received from some one, as good advice as Old 
Nokomis gave to Hiawatha: — 

" Bring not here an idle maiden, 
Bring not here a useless woman, 
Hands unskilful, feet unwilling. 
Bring a wife with nimble fingers, 
Heart and hand that move together, 
Feet that run on willing errands." 

His wife is Anna E., the daughter of Hon. Mr. Jenks, 
of Newtown, a former member of Congress from Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. At the time of his marriage in 
1845, she was eighteen years of age. Accompanying 
her husband to Minnesota, when it was chiefly occupied 
by savages, removed from the associations of her child- 
hood, she with great cheerfulness adapted herself to her 
new position. Queenly and attractive in appearance, 
she well fulfilled the duties of a governor's wife. Affa- 
ble, open-hearted, and well informed, she immediately 
became a favourite, not only with " those in authority," 
but also with the plain frontiersman. Domestic in her 
tastes, she is best appreciated by those who know her 
most intimately. 

Henry Hastings Sibley was born in Detroit, in 1812. 
His father was a native of Massachusetts, and one of 

32 



498 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the early settlers of Michigan, having been a member 
of the first Legislative Assembly of the North-west Ter- 
ritory, which met at Cincinnati. Subsequently he was 
delegate to Congress, and Judge of the Supreme Court 
of Michigan. His mother was a native of Rhode Island, 
who removed with her parents at an early age to Ohio. 
Educated at the celebrated Moravian School at Bethle- 
hem, and in the city of Philadelphia, she was refined 
and accomplished, and trained her children well. 

When the subject of this sketch was eighteen years 
of age, he became a clerk of Mr. Stewart, a gentleman 
of probity and intelligence, who had charge of the 
depot of the American Fur Company at Mackinaw. In 
the year 1834, when but twenty-two years of age, Mr. 
Sibley commenced his residence at Mendota, as agent 
of the American Fur Company's establishment. After 
this company failed in 1842, the inventory was pur- 
chased by P. Chouteau, Jr., and Co., of St. Louis, and 
Mr. Sibley continued the business until he became a 
delegate to Congress in 1848-49, which post he held 
for several years, and faithfully discharged its duties. 
After a long delay, in 1858 was declared by the board 
of canvassers the governor of the state. 

Mr. Sibley's wife was a native of Pennsylvania, and 
the sister of Mr. Franklin Steele. Married at an early 
age, she also gracefully accommodated herself to the 
novelty of frontier life, although, living immediately op- 
posite to Fort Snelling, she found some congenial society 
among the families of the officers. Sprightly in disposi- 
tion, and devoted to her children, her venerable mother 
and her husband her death was a great loss. 

Henry M. Rice, was the first to represent the 
state in the Senate of the United States, is a native of 

1 Died May 21, 1869. 



SKETCH OF HENRY M. RICE. 499 

Vermont, although his life, from youth, has been passed 
in the far West. With much foresight, and quick in 
execution, he has always been prominent in develop- 
ing the resources of the state he represents. The fol- 
lowing sketch, published a few years ago, gives the 
views of one of Mr. Rice's friends : — 

" He settled here when there were no white men in 
the territory, except Indian traders, missionaries, and 
soldiers ; and during his long residence, has been noted 
as the promoter of every enterprise tending to develop 
the hidden wealth of Minnesota, and attract hither im- 
migration from other portions of the country. Two 
years ago, he was elected to Congress by an overwhelm- 
ing vote ; and then commenced a series of labours on 
his part which will make him long remembered in the 
territory as the most efficient of representatives. The 
pre-emption system he caused to be extended to un sur- 
veyed lands ; the military reserves opened to actual 
settlers; land offices to be established; post routes 
opened out and offices established ; millions of acres of 
lands to be purchased from Indians, and thrown open 
to settlers ; and thousands of dollars to be appropriated 
to the construction of government roads. Nor was this 
all : legislation for the benefit of individuals entitled to 
it, was secured, and no exertion ever spared, in Congress 
and out of it, at the executive departments or elsewhere, 
that would benefit the territory. The heavy immigra- 
tion of the past two years is as strong proof as could 
be desired that Minnesota is regarded as the chosen 
spot of the West, either for immigrants seeking to estab- 
lish themselves, or capitalists desiring investments ; and 
for much of this heavy immigration, we cannot help 
thinking our territory is indebted to the late delegate; 



600 HISTORY OF xMINNESOTA. 

the beneficial legislation he procured for us, rendered 
Minnesota indeed a land of promise. 

" Mr. Rice possesses in a great degree the qualities 
necessary to make a good delegate. His winning man- 
ners secure him hosts of friends, and enable him to 
acquire great influence ; his business habits, industry, 
and perseverance, insure the accomplishment of what- 
ever he undertakes, while his perfect knowledge of the 
wants of the territory, prevents his efforts from being 
misdirected. His political opinions are those of a Na- 
tional Democrat — coinciding with those of the president 
and heads of departments, a majority of the Senate, 
and a respectable and united minority in the House — 
which will successfully combat a divided majority." 

In the year 1849 Mr. Rice was married to Miss 
Matilda Whitall, whose family reside in the vicinity of 
Richmond, Virginia. Youthful, graceful in bearing, and 
with warm impulses, her houses in Washington and St. 
Paul have always been an agreeable resort to her hus- 
band's friends. With a disposition to be identified with 
whatever will promote the interests of her husband, 
she proves a valuable wife as well as attentive mother. 
Franklin Steele wasa native of Chester county, Penn- 
sylvania, and, when a youth, was advised by Andrew 
Jackson, late President of the United States, to identify 
himself with the West. John H. Stevens, Esq., of 
Glencoe, formerly a clerk of Mr. Steele's, in a lecture 
before Hennepin County Lyceum, says : — " The day he 
landed at Fort Snelling, the Indians had concluded 
a treaty with the whites, by which the St. Croix Falls 
were ceded to the latter. Mr. Steele went over ; like*d 
the place much, made a claim, hired a large crew of 
men, put Calvin A. Tuttle, Esq., now of St. Anthony, 




MAtro ■:. 



MR. FRANKLIN STEELE AND WIFE. 601 

at their head, and commenced in earnest to build mills. 
Upon being appointed sutler to the army at Fort Snel- 
ling, he disposed of the St. Croix property, and became 
interested on the east side of St. Anthony's Falls. He 
has continued to make this county his home ever since 
his first arrival in the territory. Mr. Steele has been 
a good friend to Hennepin, and as most of the citizens 
came here poor, they never had to ask Mr. Steele a 
second time for a favour. Fortune has favoured him, 
and while many a family has reason to be thankful 
for his generosity and kindness, he has constantly made 
money.'* On the tenth of September, 1880, he died 

Mrs. Franklin Steele is a native of Maryland, and 
was a Miss Barney, a relative of the naval officer whose 
name is associated with the glory of our marine. Com- 
manding in person, and well educated, she had been 
much admired in society. In January, 1881, she died. 

About the last of May, 1 849, the Dahkotahs of the Ka- 
posia band, just below St. Paul, performed one of their 
peculiar ceremonies. A short distance from their lodges 
they formed an elliptical enclosure with willow bushes 
stuck in the ground. In the centre was placed a large 
buffalo fish on some green fern, and a cat-fish on a bunch 
of dry grass. A small arbour was placed over the fish. 
At one end of the enclosure was a teepee, in which 
were men singing Hah-yay, Hah-yay, Hoh, Hoh, Hoh, 
Hoh-ah. Soon six men and three boys issued with bent 
bodies and long, dishevelled hair, who moved around 
the enclosure, keeping their faces as much as possible 
in the direction of the fishes. Then a tall man, of 
threescore years, painted entirely black, appeared with 
a small hoop in each hand, walking " on all fours," and 
howling like a bear. Entering within the enclosure of 



502 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA 

willow branches, he moved around as if scenting some- 
thing. While thus occupied, two more made their 
appearance smeared all over with white clay, one repre- 
senting a grizzly bear, the other, with a tail suspended 
from his breech cloth, and body bent, represented a 
wolf. The other Indians danced and sang for two or 
three hours, while these men as beasts prowled around 
the fishes, pawing, snuffing at them, and then retreating. 
At last one of the bears crept up to one of the fish, and, 
after much growling, bit off a piece, and went round the 
ellipse chewing. The other bear then bit the remaining 
fish. These signals caused all the dancers to follow, 
and flesh, fins, bones, and entrails were all devoured 
without being touched by the hands. The sacred men 
also prayed to the spirits of the fish, and the object of 
the feast, was supposed to be, to induce a change of 
weather. 

On the first of June, Governor Eamsey, by proclama- 
tion, declared the territory duly organized, with the fol- 
lowing officers : Alexander Ramsey, of Pennsylvania, 
Governor ; C. K. Smith, of Ohio, Secretary ; A. Good- 
rich, of Tennessee, Chief Justice; D. Cooper, of Penn- 
sylvania, and B. B. Meeker, of Kentucky, Associate 
Judges; Joshua L. Taylor, Marshal; H. L. Moss, At- 
torney of the United States. 1 

l A Proclamation, by Alexander Ram- a government was erected over all 

sey, Governor of the Territory of the country described in said act to 

Minnesota. be called " The Territory of Minne- 

to all whom it may concern. sota ;" and whereas the following 

Whereas by an act of the Congress named officers have been duly ap- 

of the United States of America, pointed and commisssioned under 

entitled " An act to establish the the said act as officers of said govern- 

Territorial Government of 'Minnesota " ment, viz : 

approved March third, 1849, a true Alexander Ramsey, Governor of 

sopy whereof is hereto annexed, said Territory, and Commander-in 




£[E(LH. 



JUDGES GOODRICH, MEEKER, AND COOPER. 503 

On the eleventh of June, a second proclamation was 
issued, dividing the territory into three temporary judi- 
cial districts. The first comprised the county of St. 
Croix ; the county of La Pointe, and the region north 
and west of the Mississippi, and north of the Minnesota, 
and of a line running due west from the headwaters of 
the Minnesota to the Missouri river, constituted the 
second ; and the country west of the Mississippi, and 
south of the Minnesota, formed the third district. 
Judge Goodrich was assigned to the first, Meeker to the 
second, and Cooper to the third. A court was ordered 
to be held at Stillwater on the second Monday, at the 
Falls of St. Anthony on the third, and at Mendota on 
the fourth Monday of August. 

On the sixth of June, Major Wood left Fort Snelling, 
charged with the duty of making a military examina- 
tion of the country in the vicinity of Pembina, in view 
of establishing a military post there. Captain Pope, of 
the topographical engineers, accompanied the expedi- 
tion, and his report, published by Congress, is valuable 

Chief of the Militia thereof, and tively assumed the duties of their 

Superintendent of Indian affairs said offices according to law, said 

therein, territorial government is declared 

Charles K. Smith, Secretary of to be organized and established, and 

said territory, all persons are enjoined to obey, 

Aaron Goodrich, Chief Justice, conform to, and respect the laws 

and David Cooper and Bradley B. thereof accordingly. 

Meeker, Associate Justices of the Given under my hand, and the 

Supreme Court of said territory, and r„_. T -i seal of said Territory, this 

to act as Judges of the District Court first day of June, a. d. 1849, 

of said territory, and of the Independence of the 

Joshua L. Taylor, Marshal of the United States of America the seventy- 
United States for said territory, third. 

Henry L. Moss, Attorney of the By the Governor, Alex. Ramsey. 

United States for said territory, Chas. K. Smith, Secretary. 

And said officers having respee- 



504 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

in information, concerning the adaptation of the Eed 
River valley for agricultural purposes. 

Until the twenty-sixth of June, Governor Ramsey 
and family had been guests of Hon. H. H. Sibley, at 
Mendota. On the afternoon of that day they arrived 
at St. Paul, in a birch-bark canoe, and became perma- 
nent residents at the capital. The mansion first occu- 
pied as a gubernatorial mansion, is the small frame 
building, on Third, between Robert and Jackson streets, 
subsequently known as the New England House. 

A few days after, the Hon. H. M. Rice and family 
moved from Mendota to St. Paul, and occupied the house 
he had erected on St. Anthony street, near the corner 
of Market. 

On the first of July, a land office was established at 
Stillwater, and A. Yan Vorhees, after a few weeks, be- 
came the register. 

The anniversary of our National Independence, was 
celebrated in a becoming manner at the capital. The 
place selected for the address, was a grove that stood 
on the sites of the City Hall and the Baldwin School 
Building. 

In pursuance of a requirement in the organic act, the 
sheriff of St. Croix was ordered to take a census of all 
inhabitants. 1 

1 The result was as follows : — 

Names of Places. Males. Females. Total. 

Stillwater, 455 154 609 

Lake St. Croix, 129 82 211 

Marine Mills, 142 31 173 

St. Paul, 540 300 840 

Little Canada and St. Anthony, 352 219 571 

Crow Wing and Long Prairie, 235 115 350 

Osakis Rapids, 92 41 133 

Falls of St. Croix, 15 1 16 



GOVERNOR RAMSEY RECOGNISES A CHIEF. 505 

On the seventh of July, a proclamation was issued, 
dividing the territory into seven council districts, and 
ordering an election to be held on the first day of 
August, for one delegate to represent the people in the 
House of Representatives of the United States, for nine 
councillors, and eighteen representatives to constitute 
the Legislative Assembly of Minnesota. 

Shortly after his arrival, Governor Ramsey recognised 
a new hereditary chief of the Wahk-pay-koo-tay band 
of Dahkotahs, named Wa-min-di-yu-ka-pi, by investing 
him with a sword and a soldier's medal. He was a fine 
looking youth, and a few weeks after this honour he 
and seventeen others were slaughtered in broad day- 
light, by a party of Indians they met near the head- 
waters of the Des Moines river. The Dahkotahs took 
four scalps, and the citizens of St. Paul, during the quiet 
nights of that summer, could hear the noise of the scalp 
dance at Kaposia. 

Names of Places. Males. Females. Total. 

Snake River, 58 24 82 

La Pointe County, 12 10 22 

Crow Wing, . . 103 71 174 

Big Stone Lake and Lac qui Parle, 33 35 68 

Little Rock, 20 15 35 

Prairieville, 9 13 22 

Oak Grove, 14 9 23 

Black Dog Village, 7 11 18 

Crow Wing, east side, 35 35 70 

Mendota, 72 50 122 

Red Wing Village 20 13 33 

Wabeshaw and Root River, 78 36 114 

Fort Snelling, 26 12 38 

Soldiers and women and children in forts, . . 267 50 317 

Pembina, 295 342 637 

Missouri River 49 37 86 

3067 1713 4680 



506 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

During the latter part of July, a band of Sissetoan 
Dahkotahs, near Big Stone Lake, proceeded to a buffalo 
hunt. Unsuccessful, they were obliged to eat their dugs 
and tipsinna. 1 One day they were startled by a horse- 
man galloping across the plain in the direction of their 
camp. On his approach, they saw he was a Red River 
half-breed, who had formerly lived in their country. He 
had come to tell them that the Ojibways were in the 
neighbourhood, and contemplated an attack. The Dah- 
kotahs had just hid their women and children in holes, 
and covered them with brush-wood, when the enemy 
came in sight. A few of the bravest Dahkotahs went 
out to meet the foe, and the fight commenced near a 
rivulet, in the valley of the Cheyenne. The leader, 
after fighting bravely, found himself surrounded by the 
Ojibways, who had concealed themselves in the grass. 
While in the act of raising his head to draw the stopper 
from his powder-horn, he was shot through the brain. 
His little son, not ten years of age, seeing his father 
fall, rushed to the corpse, and after clasping it, he lay 
by its side, and fired at the enemy until aid came from 

1 The Tipsinna, or Dahkotah tur- cnce on the tipsinna. They eat it 

nip, grows only in the high and dry both raw and cooked. This root 

prairie. It seeks the high points has lately acquired a European 

and gravelly hills, where it continues reputation. Mr. Lamare Picot, of 

to grow in size from year to year, France has, within a few years past, 

increasing with every summer that introduced it into his native country, 

passes over it. The root is roundish and the Savans of Paris, it is said, 

or oval, and of various sizes, according have given it the name of " Picoti- 

to its age. It has a thick, hard rind, anna." It has been supposed that 

which the Dahkotah usually remove this dry prairie root might yet take 

with their teeth. During the months an important place among the 

of June and July, when the top can vegetables which are cultivated for 

be easily discovered in the grass, the support of human life ; but this 

the Indians of the Upper Minnesota expectation will probably end in 

depend, very much, for their subsist- disappointment. 



FIRST ELECTION IN MINNESOTA. 507 

the Dahkotah camp, and his corpse was cared for by 
friends. After skirmishing till dusk, the Ojibways re- 
treated with three killed. The Dahkotahs lost the 
same number. 1 

In this month the Hon. H. M. Rice despatched a boat 
laden with Indian goods from the Falls of St. Anthony 
to Crow "Wing, which was towed bv horses after the 
manner of a canal boat. 

The election on the first of August, passed off with 
little excitement, Hon. H. H. Sibley being elected 
delegate to Congress without opposition. 2 David Lam- 
bert, on what might, perhaps, be termed the old settlers' 
ticket, was defeated in St. Paul, by James McBoal. 
The latter, on the night of the election, was honoured 
with a ride through town on the axle and fore-wheels 
of an old wagon, which was drawn by his admiring, 
but somewhat undisciplined friends. 

J. L. Taylor having declined the office of United 
States Marshal; 3 A. M. Mitchell, of Ohio, a graduate of 

1 Communication in Minnesota Pioneer, September 19, 1849. 

2 The vote in St. Paul was : — 

Delegate to Congress, H. H. Sibley, ..... 188 

Councillors, W. H. Forbes, 187 

J. McBoal, 98 

" . D. Lambert, 91 

House of Representatives, . . . B. Brunson, 168 

.... P. K. Johnson, .... 104 

.... H.Jackson, 165 

.... J.J.Dewey, 171 

. . . . J. R. Brown 84 

. . . . A. G. Fuller 24 

Unsuccessful in Italics. 

3 The following exhibits the result under the counties into which the 
of the first census, along with the territory was subsequently divided 
vote cast for the Delegate to Congress by the first Legislature : — 

on the first August, 1*40, arranged 



508 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

West Point, and colonel of a regiment of Ohio volun- 
teers in Mexico, was appointed, ajid arrived at the capi- 
tal early in August. 

There were three papers published in the territory 
soon after its organization. The first was the Pioneer, 1 
issued on April twenty-eighth, 1849, under most dis- 
couraging circumstances. It was at first the intention 
of the witty and talented editor to have called his paper 
u The Epistle of St. Paul." About the same time there was 
issued, in Cincinnati, under the auspices of the late Dr. 
A. Randall, of California, the first number of the Regis- 
ter. The second number of the paper was printed at 
St. Paul, in July, and the office was on St. Anthony, 
between Washington and Market Streets. About the 
first of June, James Hughes, now of Hudson, Wisconsin, 
arrived with a press and materials, and established the 
Minnesota Chronicle. After an existence of a few weeks 
these papers were discontinued ; and, in their place, was 

Co. Seats. Counties. Males. Females. Vote for Del. 

St. Paul, . Ramsey, 976 564 273 

Stillwater,. Washington, ...... 821 291 213 

Sauk Rapids, Benton, 249 108 18 

Mendota, . Dahkotah, 301 167 75 

Wahnatah, .344 182 70 

Wabashaw, Wabashaw, .246 84 33 

Pembina, . Pembina, 295 342 — 

Itasca, 21 9 — 

Mankato, • . — — — 

3253 1687 682 

1687 

Total population, June 30, 1849, . . . 4940 

1 The press used in printing the purchased in Cincinnati in 1836, 

" Pioneer" is said to have been the and first used in printing the Du- 

first ever used north of Missouri, and buque Visitor, published by John 

west of the Mississippi. It was King. 



SESSIONS OF THE FIRST COURTS. 509 

issued the " Chronicle and Register," edited by Nathaniel 
McLean and John P. Owens. 

The first courts, pursuant to proclamation of the 
governor, were held in the month of August. At Still- 
water, the court was organized on the thirteenth of the 
month, Judge Goodrich presiding, and Judge Cooper, 
by courtesy, sitting on the bench. On the twentieth, 
the second judicial district held a court. The room 
used was the old government mill at Minneapolis. The 
presiding judge was B. B. Meeker; the foreman of the 
grand jury, Franklin Steele. On the last Monday of 
the month, the court for the third judicial district was 
organized in the large stone warehouse of the fur com- 
pany at Mendota. The presiding judge was David 
Cooper. Governor Ramsey sat on the right, and 
Judge Goodrich on the left. Hon. H. H. Sibley was 
the foreman of the grand jury. As some of the jurors 
could not speak the English language, W. H. Forbes 
acted as interpreter. The charge of Judge Cooper was 
lucid, scholarly, and dignified. At the request of the 
grand jury it was afterwards published. 

R. G. Murphey, the United States' agent for the Dah- 
kotahs, used commendable diligence during this year in 
checking the whiskey traffic, and in inducing the In- 
dians to renew their temperance pledges. Under the 
influence of a vile class of whiskey sellers that infested 
the neighbourhood of what is now the capital of Min- 
nesota, the Dahkotahs, a few years before this, were a 
nation of drunkards. Men would travel hundreds of 
miles to the " place where they sell Minne-wakan," 
as they designated St. Paul, to traffic for a keg of 
whiskey. The editor of the Dahkotah Friend says : — 

" Twelve years ago they bade fair soon to die, all to- 



jIO HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

gether, in one drunken jumble. They must be drunk — 
the}' could hardly live if they were not drunk. Many 
of them seemed as uneasy when sober as a fish does 
when on land. At some of the villages they were drunk 
months together. There was no end to it. They would 
)iave whiskey. They would give guns, blankets, pork, 
lard, flour, corn, coffee, sugar, horses, furs, traps, any- 
thing for whiskey. It was made to drink — it was good 
— it was wakan. They drank it — they bit off each 
other's noses — broke each other's ribs and heads — they 
knifed each other. They killed one another with guns, 
knives, hatchets, clubs, fire-brands — they fell into the 
fire and water, and were burned to death and drowned 
— they froze to death, and committed suicide so fre- 
quently that, for a time, the death of an Indian, in 
some of the ways mentioned, was but little thought of 
by themselves or others. Some of the earlier settlers of 
St. Paul and Pig's Eye remember something about these 
matters. Their eyes saw sights which are not exhibited 
now-a-days." 

The reform was commenced through the influence of 
the missionaries, Mr. Sibley, and Mr. Murphey's prede- 
cessor. 

On one occasion Agent Murphey met a Sissetoan 
Dahkotah, a few miles above Mendota, returning home 
with a supply of "fire water:' A wagon happening to 
pass at the time, he secured the fellow, and returned 
with him in the vehicle toward Fort Snelling ; but, in 
passing a wooded ravine, the Indian, a most active and 
athletic man, succeeded, by a desperate exertion, in 
leaping from the wagon, and, dashing into the woods, 
made his escape. During the summer a steamboat 
landed in the night at Raymneecha (Red Wing), and a 



MEETING OF FIRST LEGISLATURE. 



511 



son of one of the chiefs, told his father that the band 
were obtaining whiskey at the boat. The chief was in- 
dignant, and, awaking the Indian farmer, he went to 
the landing, and told the crew that he would cut the 
boat loose unless they immediately removed. 

On Monday, the third of September, the first Legis- 
lative Assembly convened in the "Central House," a 
building which answered the double purpose, of capitol 
and hotel. On the first floor of the main building was 
the secretary's office and Representative chamber, and 
in the second story was the library and Council chamber. 
As the flag was run up the staff in front of the house, 
a number of Indians sat on a rocky bluff in the vicinity, 
and gazed at what to them was a novel, and perhaps 
saddening scene; for if the tide of emigration sweeps 
in from the Pacific as it has from the Atlantic coast, 
they must diminish. 

The legislature having organized, elected the follow- 
ing permanent officers : David Olmsted, President of 
Council; 1 Joseph R. Brown, Secretary; H. A. Lambert, 
Assistant. In the House of Representatives, Joseph W. 
Furber was elected Speaker; W. D. Phillips, Clerk; L. 
B. Wait, Assistant. 

On Tuesday afternoon, both houses assembled in the 



1 Councillors. 


No. of District. Residence. 


Age. 


Place of Nativity. 


James S. Norms, . 


. . 1 . 


Cottage Grove, . . 


38 


Maine. 


Samuel Burkleo, . . 


2 


Stillwater, .... 


45 


Delaware. 


William H. Forbes, 


. 3 . 


St. Paul, .... 


38 


Montreal, C. 


James MeC. Boal, . 


. 3 . 


" .... 


38 


Pennsylvania. 


David B. Loomis, 


. 4 . 


Marine Mills, . . 


32 


Connecticut. 


John Rollins, . . 


. 5 . 


Falls of St. Anthony, 


41 


Maine. 


David Olmsted, . . 


. 6 . 


Long Prairie, . . 


27 


Vermont. 


William Sturges, 


. 6 . 


Elk River, .... 


28 


Up. Canada. 


Martin McLeod, . . 


. 7 . 


Lac qui Parle, . . 


36 


Montreal, C. 



512 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



dining hall of the hotel, and after prayer was offered by 
Rev. E. D. Neill, Governor Ramsey delivered his mes- 
sage. The message was ably written, and its perusal 
afforded satisfaction at home and abroad. 

The members of the first legislature were generally 
acquainted with each other previous to their election, 
and there was but little formality manifested in their 
proceedings. A child of one of the members having 
died, the House of Representatives : adjourned to attend 
the little one's funeral. 2 



i Representatives. No. 


of District. Residence. 




Age. 


Place of Nativity. 


Joseph W. Furber, . . 


1 . 


Cottage Grove, 


. 


36 


N. H. 


James Wells, .... 


1 . 


Lake Pepin, . 


. . 


46 


N. Jersey. 


M. S. Wilkinson, . . . 


2 . 


Stillwater, 


. 


30 


New York. 


Sylvanus Trask, . . . 


2 . 


« 


. 


— 


<< 


Mahlon Black, . . . 


2 . 


<( 


. 


— 


Ohio. 


Benjamin W. Brunson, 


3 . 


St. Paul, . . 


. 


25 


Michigan. 


Henry Jackson, . . . 


3 . 


tt 


. . 


42 


Virginia. 


John J. Dewey, . . . 


3 . 


« 


. 


— 


New York. 


Parsons K. Johnson, 


3 . 


<« 


. 


— 


Vermont. 


Henry F. Setzer, . . . 


4 . 


Snake River, . 


. 


— 


Missouri. 


William R. Marshall, . 


5 . 


Falls of St. Anthony, 


25 




William Dugas, . . . 


5 . 


Little Canada, 


. . 


37 


L. Canada. 


Jeremiah Russell, . . 


6 . 


Crow Wing, . 


. . 


— 




L. A. Babcock, . . . 


6 . 


Sauk Rapids, 


. . 


29 


Vermont. 


Thomas A. Holmes, 


6 . 


<< 


. 


44 


Pennsylvania. 


Allen Morrison, . . . 


6 . 










Alexis Bailly, . . . 


7 . 


Mendota, . . 


. * 


50 


Michigan. 


Gideon H. Pond, . . . 


7 . 


Oak Grove, . 


. . 


39 


Connecticut. 



2 Extract from the Journal of the 
House, October fourth, 1849 : — 

Mr. Wilkinson offered the follow- 
ing :— 

"Whereas, by the sudden and 
mysterious dispensation of Provi- 
dence, one of our brother members 
of this house, has been painfully 
bereaved by the death of a beloved 
member of his family, and feeling a 



deep sympathy for our worthy 
brother in his bereavment, therefore 
Resolved, That when this house 
adjourn, that it adjourn until to- 
morrow morning at ten o'clock, and 
that the members be requested by 
the speaker to attend the funeral of 
the daughter of the Hon. B. W. 
Brunson, at one o'clock." 



FIRST COUNTIES.— RED PIPE STONE. 513 

The first session of the legislature adjourned on the 
first of November. Among other proceedings of in- 
terest, was the creation of the following counties* 
Itasca, Waubashaw, Dahkotah, Wahnahtah, Mahkahto, 
Pembina, Washington, Ramsey, and Benton. The 
three latter counties comprised the country that up to 
that time had been ceded by the Indians on the east 
side of the Mississippi. Stillwater was declared the 
county seat of Washington ; St. Paul, of Ramsey; "and 
the seat of justice of the county of Benton, was to be 
within one-quarter of a mile of a point on the east side 
of the Mississippi, directly opposite the mouth of Sauk 
river." 

The day of elections after the year 1849, was ap- 
pointed to be on the first of September. 

A warm interest was manifested in the common 
school system, and an able report on the subject was 
made to the Council by the Hon. M. McLeod, chairman 
of the committee. 

A joint resolution was passed, ordering a slab of the 
red pipe stone to be forwarded to the Washington 
Monument Association. 1 

1 Mr. McLeod submitted the fol- Association, to the effect that a por- 
lowing communication from the Hon. tion of rock from each state, would 
Henry H. Sibley, which be received to be used in the con- 
On motion of Mr. McLeod, was struction of the monument, has 
ordered to be read and entered on caused to be procured from the 
the minutes of the council : — quarry, about two hundred miles 

distant, a specimen of the Red or 

Mexdota, Sept. 11, 1849. Pipe stone, which is peculiar to our 

To the Honourable, the Legislative territory, to be proffered for that 

Council of Minnesota Territory : purpose. Believing it to be meet 

The undersigned having seen a and proper that Minnesota should 

notice in the public journals some not be backward in her contribution 

time since, signed by the general to a work which is intended to per- 

agent of the Washington Monument petuate the memory of the " Father 

33 



514 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



The stone for ages has been used by the Dahkotahs 
and other tribes for the manufacture of pipes, and is 
esteemed "wakan." In the State Cabinet of Albany 
there is a very ancient pipe of this material, which was 
obtained in the Seneca country, and the tradition is 
that it was taken from the Dahkotahs. 

Charlevoix, in his History of New France, speaking 
of the pipe of peace, says : " It is ordinarily made of a 
species of red marble, very easily worked, and found 
beyond the Mississippi among the Aaiouez (Ioways)." 
Le Sueur speaks of the Yanktons, as the village of the 
Dahkotahs at the Red Stone-quarry. It is asserted that 
in days gone by hostile nations used to assemble at this 
quarry, and obtain the material for pipes without mo- 



of his Country," and that the offer- 
ing should be that of the constituted 
authorities of the territory, rather 
than the act of a private individual, 
I have hereby the honour to present 
the specimen of rock to your honour- 
able body, for your acceptance, to 
be disposed of in such manner as 
your wisdom may suggest. 

The slab is about two and a half 
feet in length, and a little over one 
and a half in breadth, and two inches 
in thickness. In the last particular 
it does not meet the requirements of 
the Association ; but, apart from the 
impracticability of transporting a 
huge mass of stone, weighing nearly, 
if not quite, half a ton, if of the di- 
mensions stated, to so remote a point 
as Washington City, it is known 
that the strata of pipe stone rarely, 
if ever, exceed three inches in thick- 
ness. In length and breadth, it is 
believed, the specimen will come up 



to the standard, and can be so used 
as to face a solid block of granite or 
other material, and thus answer the 
proposed end. 

In conclusion, I would beg leave 
to state, that a late geological work 
of high authority, by Dr. Jackson, 
designates this formation as Catli- 
nite, upon the erroneous supposition 
that Mr. George Catlin was the first 
white man who had ever visited that 
region ; whereas, it is notorious that 
many whites had been there and 
examined the quarry long before he 
came to the country. This designa- 
tion is therefore, clearly improper 
and unjust. The Sioux term for the 
stone is Eyanskah, by which, I con- 
ceive, it should be knowD and classi- 
fied. 

I have the honour to be, 
Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 
H. H. Sibley. 



RED PIPE STONE QUARRY DESCRIBED. 



515 



testation. Whether facts will sustain the tradition may 
be doubtful. 

The first canto of the " Song of Hiawatha" gives an 
impressive picture of the conclave of natives at " the 
great Red Pipe Stone Quarry." 1 

Nicollet, in his admirable report, remarks : " This 
red pipe stone, not more interesting to the Indian than 
it is to the man of science, by its unique character, de- 
serves a particular description. In the quarry of it 
which I had opened, the thickness of the bed is one 
foot and a half, the upper portion of which separates in 
thin slabs, whilst the lower ones are more compact. As 
a mineralogical species it may be described as follows : 
compact; structure, slaty ; receiving a dull polish; having 
a red streak ; colour, blood red, with dots of a fainter 
shade of the same colour ; fracture, rough ; sextile, fat, 
somewhat greasy ; hardness, not yielding to the nail ; 



1 '• Down the rivers, o'er the prairies, 
Came the warriors of the nations, 
Came the Delawares and Mohawks, 
Came the Choctaws and Camanches, 
Came the Shoshonies and Blackfeet, 
Came the Pawnees and Omahaws, 
Came the Mandans and Dacotahs, 
Came the Huron and Ojibways, 
All the warriors drawn together, 
By the signal of the Peace-Pipe, 
To the mountains of the prairie, 
To the great Red Pipe Stone Quarry. 
* * * * ♦ 

Gitche Manito, the mighty, 
The creator of the nations, 
Looked upon them with compassion, 
With paternal love and pity; 

***** 

Spake to them with voice majestic 
As the sound of far off waters, 
***** 

my children! my poor children ! 
Listen to the words of wisdom, 
Listen to the words of warning, 
From the lips of the Great Spirit, 

From the Master of Life, who made you ; 

1 have given you lands to bunt in, 



I have given you streams to fish in, 
I have given you bear and bison, 
I have given you roe and reindeer, 
I have given you brant and beaver, 
Filling the marshes full of wild fowl, 
Filled the rivers full of fishes; 
Why then are you not contented ? 
Why then will you hunt each other? 
I am weary of your quarrels, 
Weary of your wars and bloodshed, 
Weary of your prayers for vengeance, 
Of your wranglings and dissensions; 
All your strength is in your union, 
All your danger is in discord ; 
Therefore be at peace henceforward, 
And as brothers live together, 
Bathe now in the stream before you, 
Wash the war paint from your faces, 
Wash the blood stains from your fingers, 
Bury your war clubs and your weapons, 
Break the red stone from this quarry, 
Mould and make it into peace-pipes, 
Take the reeds that grow beside you, 
Deck them with your brightest feathers, 
Smoke the calumet together, 
And as brothers live henceforward I" 



516 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

not scratched by selenite, but easily by calcareous spar; 
specific gravity, 2.90. The acids have no action upon 
it ; before the blow-pipe it is infusible, per se ; but with 
borax gives a green glass." 

The committee on seal recommended as a device an 
Indian family, with lodge and canoe, encamped, a single 
white man visiting them, and receiving from them the 
calumet of peace. The report was accepted, and the 
committee discharged. During the following winter, 
Governor Kamsey and the delegate to Congress devised 
at Washington the territorial seal. The design was : 
Falls of St. Anthony in the distance ; an emigrant 
ploughing the land on the borders of the Indian coun- 
try, full of hope, and looking forward to the possession 
of the hunting-grounds beyond. An Indian, amazed 
at the sight of the plough, and fleeing on horseback 
towards the setting sun. 

The motto of the Earl of Dunraven, " Quae sursum 
volo videre," " I wish to see what is above," was most 
appropriately selected by Mr. Sibley, then delegate in 
Congress, but by the blunder of an engraver it appeared 
on the Territorial seal " Quo sursum velo videre," which 
no scholar could translate. At length was substituted 
" L'Etoile du Nord," " Star of the North," while the de- 
vice of the setting sun remained, and this is objection- 
able, as Maine had already placed the North Star on 
her escutcheon, with the motto "Dirigo," "I guide." 
Perhaps some future Legislature may direct the first 
motto to be restored, and correctly engraved. 

The wife of Captain S. Eastman, who was formerly 
in command of Fort Snelling, a lady of fine literary 
qualifications, who, with her husband, has done more 
than any one to illustrate Dahkotah-land and Dahko- 



EFFORT TO EXTINGUISH INDIAN TITLE. 



517 



tah-life, prepared a poem on the " Seal of Minnesota," 
about the time it was designed. 1 

When the Territory of Minnesota was organized, the 
Indian title had been extinguished of but a small por- 
tion of the country. The ceded region was chiefly east 
of the Mississippi, being bounded on the north by a 
line extending east from the mouth of the Crow Wing 
river to the western boundary line of Wisconsin. The 
lands above were occupied by the Ojibways. 

It therefore seemed very desirable to make room for 
the rushing emigration to procure the right of occu- 
pancy to the lands in possession of the Dahkotahs west 



1 Give way, give way, young warrior, 

Thou and thy steed give way — 
Rest not, though lingers on the hills 

The red sun's parting ray. 
The rocky bluff and prairie land 

The white man claims them now, 
The symbols of his course are here, 

The rifle, axe, and plough. 

Not thine, the waters bright whose laugh 

Is ringing in thy ear; 
Not thine the otter and the lynx, 

The wolf and timid deer. 
The forest tree, the fairy ring, 

The sacred isle and mound 
Have passed into another's hands— 

Another claimant found. 

Give way, give way, young Warrior— 

Our title would you seek ? 
'Tis " the rich against the poor, 

And the strong against the weak." 
We need thy noble rivers, 

Thy prairies green and wide, 
And thy dark and frowning forests 

That skirt the valley's side. 

The red man's course is onward — 

Nor stayed his footsteps be, 
Till by his nigged hunting ground 

Beats the relentless sea 1 
We claim his noble heritage, 

And Minnesota's land 
Must pass with all its untold wealth 

To the white man's grasping hand. 



Give way, give way, young warrior, 

Thy father's bones may rest 
No longer here, where earth has clasped 

Them, closely to her breast — 
Here, were thy fiercest battles fought — 

Here, through the valleys rung 
The voices of the victors brave, 

As they their triumph sung. 

Here, too, with long and braided hair, 

Thy maidens in the dance 
Rivalled the wild deer's fleetest step, 

The wild deer's brightest glance. 
And here they gathered oft at eve 

From aged lips to hear 
How flowed the warrior's heart's best blood, 

How fell the maiden's tear. 

Give way — I know a thousand ties 

Most lovingly must cling, 
I know a gush of sorrow deep 

Such memories must bring. 
Thou and thy noble race from earth 

Must soon be passed away, 
As echoes die upon the hills, 

Or darkness follows day. 

Yet hear me still, young warrior, 

Thou and thy steed give way- 
Rest not, though lingers on the hills 

The red sun's parting ray. 
The rocky bluff and prairie land 

The white man claims them now, 
The symbols of his course are here— 

The rifle, axe, and plough. 



518 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

of the Mississippi, and in the valley of the Minnesota. 
Governor Ramsey and Ex-Governor Chambers of Iowa 
were appointed Commissioners to treat with the Dahko- 
tahs. They repaired to Mendota during the session of 
the legislature; but in consequence of the absence of 
many Indians on their fall hunt, and other circum- 
stances, they did not wholly comply with their instruc- 
tions. They however made a treaty for the purchase 
of what is known as the half-breed tract of Lake Pepin. 
Previous to the session of the legislature, there had 
been no organization of any political party in the ter- 
ritory. On the evening of September twenty-fourth, a 
Democratic caucus was held at the house of H. M. Rice, 
at St. Paul, on St. Anthony near Market street, and it 
was determined to call a mass meeting of Democrats. 
On October twentieth, 1 the first party convention assem- 
bled in the ball-room of the American House. Henry 
Jackson was Chairman, pro tern., and as permanent 
officers were chosen James S. Norris, President ; John 

A. Ford, S. Trask, W. Dugas, H. N. Setzer, James 
Wells, John Rollins, and A. Morrison, Vice-Presidents ; 

B. W. Lott, A. Larpenteur, H. A. Lambert, and John 
Morgan, Secretaries. The Minnesota Pioneer was de- 

1 " At a Democratic caucus held at in all parts of the territory, to as- 

the house of Henry M. Rice, on Mon- semble in mass meeting at St. Paul, 

day evening, September twenty- on Saturday, the twentieth day of 

fourth, 1849, the undersigned were October, to take measures to secure 

appointed a committee to call a Mass a permanent and thorough organiza- 

Meeting of the Democracy of the tion. 
Territory of Minnesota. W. D. Phillips, 3d Dist. 

" Believing that the safety and inte- John Rollins, 5th " 

grity of our party, and the perma- J. S. Norris, 1st " 

nent interests of our infant territory, S. Trask, 2d " 

demand that the party lines be hence- H. N. Setzer, 4th " 

forth drawn, we extend a cordial in- T. A. Holmes, 6th " n 

vitation to our Democratic brethren 



DEATH OF DAVID LAMBERT. 519 

clared to be the organ of the party, and from that period 
there was manifest a different spirit in the conduct of 
public affairs. 

On Friday evening, David Lambert, Esq., who had been 
prominent in the meetings that led to the organization 
of the territory, under the influence of that mania, which 
hurries so many of our public men to the grave, jumped 
from a steamer, on which he was returning from Galena, 
and was drowned. 1 

During the session of the legislature, considerable dis- 
cussion arose in relation to the right of the territory, to 
expend the twenty thousand dollars appropriated in the 
organic act for a capitol, at the temporary seat of govern- 
ment. Joseph R. Brown, desiring information, wrote to 
the secretary of the treasury, who decided that the 
money could only be appropriated at the permanent 
seat of government. 2 

1 His friend, the editor of the 2 Treasury Department, 

Pioneer, in his paper of November Oct. 30, 1849. 

eighth says : Sir : — Your letter of the eleventh 

" Mr. Lambert was about thirty inst., is received, inquiring whether 
years of age, was prosperous in " the twenty thousand dollars appro- 
business, and acknowledged to be a priated for the erection of public 
man of superior abilities. He had buildings in Minnesota can be ex- 
suffered some wounds in his domestic pended previous to the location of 
relations, which made him misan- the permanent seat of government 
thropic, reckless, and miserable. We by a vote of the people ?" 
should characterize him as a man It is provided by the thirteenth 
of very remarkable conversational section of the act to establish the 
talent, and when he devoted himself territorial government of Minnesota, 
to literary pursuits he was considered approved third of March, 1849, that 
a very promising writer. Mr. L. the Governor and Legislative Assem- 
graduated at Washington (Trinity) bly shall, at such time as they shall 
College, Hartford, Ct. He published see proper, prescribe by law, the 
a newspaper at Little Rock, Ark., manner of locating the permanent 
and, afterwards published the Wis- seat of government of said territory 
consin Inquirer at Madison." by a vote of the people. " And the 



620 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



On the fourth Monday of November, the elections for 
the officers of the new counties took place. 1 

In the month of November, the first meeting in rela- 
tion to the establishment of public schools, was held in 
the small school-house that stood on St. Anthony street, 
near the First Presbyterian Church. Previous to this, 
the English schools, in the white settlements, had chiefly 
been taught by teachers who had been sent out by the 
National Society of Popular Education : Misses Bishop 
and Scofield having taught at St. Paul, Miss A. Hos- 
ford 2 at Stillwater, and Miss Backus at St. Anthony. 



sum of twenty thousand dollars out 
of any money in the treasury not 
otherwise appropriated, is hereby 
appropriated and granted to said 
Territory of Minnesota, to be applied 
by the Governor and Legislative 
Assembly to the erection of suitable 
public buildings at the seat of go- 
vernment." 

In view of the antecedent, and 
the object of this appropriation, the 
Department cannot doubt that the 
public buildings in question, can 



only be erected at the permanent 
seat of government, located as pre- 
scribed. Of course the reply to 
your inquiry must be, that nothing 
can be expended from this appropri- 
ation until after the location shall 
be duly made. 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

W. M. Meredith, 
Secretary of the Treasury. 
Joseph R. Brown, 
St. Paul, M. T. 



1 The vote in Ramsey county was as follows : — 









St. Anthony. 


St. Paul. 


Total. 


Register, . 


Dav. 


. 39 


172 


211 


tt 




. . Phillips, . 


. 30 


69 


99 


Sheriff, . 




. . . Lull, . . 


. 17 


172 


189 


(< 




Irvine, . 


. 33 

. . 19 

. 69 


60 

2 

240 


93 


<« 




. Brisette, 


21 


Treasurer, 




Simpson, . 


309 


Commissioners, 


. . . Roberts, . 


. 57 


202 


259 


<« 


. . Godfrey, . 


. . 19 


123 


142 


<< 


. . Gervais, 


. 31 


167 


198 


«« 


. . . Banfill, . 


. 37 


70 


107 


<« 


. . . Russell, 


, . 54 


108 


162 


.Judge of Probate 


, . . Lambert, . 


. 34 


149 


183 


«< 


. . Lott, . . 


. . 33 


93 


126 


2 Mrs. H. L. 


Moss. 











ST. ANTHONY LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. 521 

In the month of December, the St. Anthony Library 
Association, which had been incorporated by the legis- 
lature, commenced a series of lectures. The intro- 
ductory was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Neill, and part 
of it was published, as a supplement, in the annals of 
the Historical Society for 1850. Among other lecturers, 
were the Rev. Mr. Gear, Chaplain of Fort Snelling, and 
Wm. R. Marshall, Esq. The association was the first 
institution of the kind, excepting the Historical Society, 
in Minnesota; and had a small library of valuable 
standard works. 



522 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



By the active exertions of the secretary of the terri- 
tory, C. K. Smith, Esq., the Historical Society of Min- 
nesota l was incorporated at the first session of the legis- 



1 The Chronicle and Kegister of 
January fifth, 1850, has the following 
editorial : — 

" The first public exercises of the 
Minnesota Historical Society, took 
place at the Methodist Church, St. 
Paul, on the first inst., and passed 
off highly creditably to all concerned. 
The day was pleasant, and the at- 
tendance large. At the appointed 
hour, — the President and both Vice- 
Presidents of the society being ab- 
sent; on motion of Hon. C. K. Smith, 
Hon. Chief Justice Goodrich was 
called to the chair. The same gen- 
tleman then moved that a committee, 
consisting of Messrs. Parsons K. 
Johnson, John A. Wakefield, and 
B. W. Brunson, be appointed to 
wait upon the Orator of the day, 
Rev. Mr. Neill, and inform him that 
the audience was in waiting to hear 
his address. 

" Mr. Neill was shortly conducted 
to the pulpit ; and after an eloquent 
and appropriate prayer by the Bev. 



Mr. Parsons, and music by the band, 
he proceeded to deliver his discourse 
upon the early French Missionaries 
and voyageurs into Minnesota. It 
was a highly creditable production ; 
and we hope the society will provide 
for its publication at an early day. 
In truthfulness to history — candour 
and liberality of sentiment — and 
strength, and beauty of composition, 
it commended itself to all present. 

"After some brief remarks by 
Bev. Mr. Hobart, upon the objects 
and ends of history, the ceremonies 
were concluded with a prayer by 
that gentleman. The audience dis- 
persed highly delighted with all that 
occurred. 

" The occasion owed much of its 
interest to the presence of the far- 
famed ' Sixth Infantry Band/ now 
stationed at Fort Snelling. They 
' discoursed most eloquent music' at 
appropriate intervals throughout the 
exercises. We have never heard a 
band anywhere that appeared more 



NEWSPAPER CARRIERS' ADDRESS. 523 

lature. The opening annual address was delivered in 
the Methodist church at St. Paul, on the first of Janu- 
ary, 1850. 

At this early period the Minnesota Pioneer issued a 
Carrier's New Years Address, which was amusing dog- 
gerel. The reference to the future greatness and igno- 
ble origin of the capital of Minnesota is as follows : — 

The cities on this river must be three, The workshop of the nation it shall be. 

Two that are built and one that is to be. Propelled by this wide stream, you'll see 

One, is the mart of all the tropics yield ; A thousand factories at St. Anthony : 

The caDe, the orange, and the cotton-field ; And the St. Croix a hundred mills shall drive, 

And sends her ships abroad and boasts And all its smiling villages shall thrive ; 

Her trade extended to a thousand coasts ; But then my town — remember that high bench 

The other, central for the temperate zone, With cabins scattered over it, of French? 

Garners the stores that on the plains are grown ; A man named Henry Jackson 's living there, 

A place where steamboats from all quarters, Also a man — why every one knows L. Robair ; 

range, Below Fort Snelling, seven miles or so, 

To meet and speculate, as 'twere on 'change. And three above the village of Old Crow? 

The Viird ivid be, where rivers confluent flow Pig's Eye? Yes ; Pig's Eye! That's the spot! 

From the wide spreading north through plains A very funny name ; is't not ? 

of snow; Pig's Eye 's the spot, to plant my city on, 

The mart of all that boundless forests give To be remembered by, when I am gone. 

To make mankind more comfortably live, Pig's Eye, converted thoa shalt be, like Saul: 

The land of manufacturing industry, Thy name henceforth shall be St. Paul. 

On the evening of New Year's day, at Fort Snelling, 
there was an assemblage which is only seen on the out- 
posts of civilization. In one of the stone edifices 
belonging to the United States there resided an unas- 
suming gentleman of integrity who had dwelt in Min- 
nesota since the year 1819, and for many years had 
been in the employ of the government. In youth he 
had been a member of the Columbia Fur Company, and 
conforming to the habits of traders, had purchased a 
Dahkotah wife who was wholly ignorant of the English 

complete masters of their profession, be carried forward energetically, and 

t.ie celebrated Styermarkieh not its good results will be felt and 

excepted. appreciated by generations that will 

11 The Society has made a most occupy our place centuries to come." 
auspicious commencement. Let it 



524 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

language. As a family of children gathered around 
him he recognised the relation of husband and father, 
and conscientiously discharged his duties as a parent. 
His daughter at a proper age was sent to a boarding- 
school of some celebrity, and on the night referred to 
was married to an intelligent young American farmer. 
Among the guests present were the officers of the garri- 
son in full uniform, with their wives, the United States 
Agent for the Dahkotahs, and family, the bois brules of 
the neighbourhood, and the Indian relatives of the 
mother. The mother did not make her appearance, 
but, as the minister proceeded with the ceremony, the 
Dahkotah relatives, wrapped in their blankets, gathered 
in the hall and looked in through the door. 

The marriage feast was worthy of the occasion. In 
consequence of the numbers, the officers and those of 
European extraction partook first ; then the bois brules 
of Ojibway and Dahkotah descent; and, finally, the 
native Americans, who did ample justice to the plenti- 
ful supply spread before them. 

The union has been blessed, and the bride, now a 
mother, in the fear of God, is training up her little ones, 
who bid fair to be useful and industrious citizens. 

Until the close of the year 1849 the only roadway 
in winter to the settlements of Wisconsin and Iowa 
was the ice of the Mississippi. Late in December, after 
five weeks' work, a road was marked out from Prairie du 
Chien to Hudson, Wisconsin, and the hauling of supplies 
by land was commenced. The mail service l during the 

1 Proposals for carrying mail in By Lake St. Croix, Nelson's Land- 
Minnesota, 1850 : — ing, La Cross, Wis., and Lansing;; 

From St. Paul at 6 a. m., once a To Prairie du Chien by 6 p. m. next 

week, Monday : Sunday, 270 miles ; 



FIRST TRIAL FOR MURDER. 525 

year 1850 was very meagre. The first murder case was 
brought before Judge Cooper, at the February term of 
the court, at Stillwater. 

On the afternoon of the twelfth of September, a num- 
ber of boys were playing on the bluff in St. Paul, near 
the corner of St. Anthony and Franklin streets, oppo- 
site the stone block, now occupied by the carpet rooms 
of 0. King. One of the number, Isaiah McMillan, see- 
ing another, by the name of Heman Snow, approaching 
with a press-board before his face, said he would shoot 
him, and taking aim with a gun, he had in his hands, 
fired. The shot entered the right eye and left cheek 
of Snow, who was a lad about twelve years of age, and 
after a few hours he expired. The counsel for the prose- 
cution were Messrs. Bishop and Wilkinson, and for the 
defendent Messrs. Ames and Moss. From the testi- 
mony adduced, it was not clear that there was malice 
prepense, and the jury brought in a verdict of man- 
slaughter, with a recommendation that the court would 
inflict the least possible penalty under the law. The 
boy was sentenced to one year's imprisonment. As 
there was no prison in which to confine him, he was 
sent up to Fort Snelling, and subsisted at the expense 
of the soldiers, and by permission of the colonel, was 

And back between 6 a. m. Monday of departure and arrival, will be 

and 6 p. m. next Sunday. considered. 

Proposals for more frequent supply From St. Paul at 6 a. m., once a 

•will be considered. -week, Monday ; 

From St. Paul at 6 a. m., once a By Stillwater and Marine Mills ; 

week, Monday ; To Falls of St. Croix by 12 m. next 

To Fort Snelling by 8 a. m., 6 miles ; day, 49 miles ; 

And back between 10 a. m. and And back between 2 p. m. Tuesday 

12 m. and 6 p. m. next day ; 

Proposals for more frequent supply, With one additional weekly trip 

stating the number of trips, times from St. Paul to Stillwater. 



526 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

occasionally allowed to make himself useful by sawing 
wood. 

In the month of April, there was a renewal of hostili- 
ties between the Dahkotahs and Ojibways, on lands that 
had been ceded to the United States. A war prophet 
at Red Wing, dreamed that he ought to raise a war 
party. Announcing the fact, a number expressed their 
willingness to go on such an expedition. Several from 
the Kaposia village also joined the party, under the 
leadership of a worthless Indian, who had been confined 
in the guard-house at Fort Snelling, the year previous, 
for scalping his wife. 

Passing up the valley of the St. Croix, a few miles 
above Stillwater, the party discovered on the snow the 
marks of a keg and foot-prints. These told them that 
a man and woman of the Ojibways had been to some 
whiskey dealer's, and were returning. Following their 
trail, they found on Apple river, about twenty miles 
from Stillwater, a band of Ojibways encamped in one 
lodge. Waiting till daybreak of Wednesday, April 
second, the Dahkotahs commenced firing on the unsus- 
pecting inmates, some of whom were drinking from the 
contents of the whiskey keg. The camp was composed 
of fifteen, and all were murdered and scalped, with the 
exception of a lad, who was made a captive. 

On Thursday, the victors came to Stillwater, and 
danced the scalp dance around the captive boy, in the 
heat of excitement, striking him in the face with the 
scarcely cold and reeking scalps of his relatives. The 
child was then taken to Kaposia, and adopted by the 
chief. Governor Ramsey immediately took measures 
to send the boy to his friends. At a conference held at 
the governor's mansion, the boy was delivered up, and 



FRIGHT OF THE CAPTIVE BOY AT THE GOVERNOR'S. VZi 

on being led out to the kitchen, by a little son of the 
governor, since deceased, to receive refreshments, he 
cried bitterly, seemingly more alarmed at being left 
with the whites than he had been while a captive at 
Kaposia. 

From the first of April the waters of the Mississippi 
began to rise, and on the thirteenth, the lower floor of 
the warehouse, once occupied by William Constans, at 
the foot of Jackson street, St. Paul, was submerged. 
Taking advantage of the freshet, the steamboat Anthony 
Wayne, for a purse of two hundred dollars, ventured 
through the swift current above Fort Snelling, and 
reached the Falls of St. Anthony. The boat left the 
fort after dinner, with Governor Ramsey and other 
guests, also the band of the sixth regiment on board, and 
reached the falls between three and four o'clock in the 
afternoon. The whole town, men, women, and children, 
lined the shore as the boat approached, and welcomed 
this first arrival, with shouts and waving handkerchiefs. 

On the afternoon of May fifteenth, there might have 
been seen, hurrying through the streets of St. Paul, a 
number of naked and painted braves of the Kaposia 
band of Dahkotahs, ornamented with all the attire of 
war, and panting for the scalp of their enemies. A few 
hours before, the youthful and warlike head chief of the 
Ojibways, " Hole in the Day," having secreted his canoe 
in the retired gorge which leads to the cave in the 
upper suburbs, with two or three associates had crossed 
the river, and, almost in sight of the citizens of the 
town, had attacked a small party of Dahkotahs, and 
murdered and scalped one man. On the receipt of the 
news, Governor Ramsey granted a parole to the thirteen 
Dahkotahs confined in Fort Snelling, for participating 



528 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

in the Apple river massacre. On the morning of the 
sixteenth of May, the first Protestant church edifice 
completed in the white settlements, a small frame 
building, built for the Presbyterian Church, at St. Paul, 
was destroyed by fire, it being the first conflagration 
that had occurred since the organization of the territory. 

One of the most interesting events of the year 1850, 
was the Indian council, at Fort Snelling. Governor 
Ramsey had sent runners to the different bands of the 
Ojibways and Dahkotahs, to meet him at the fort, for 
the purpose of endeavouring to adjust their difficulties. 
We give the account of the proceedings, as reported in 
the Minnesota Pioneer : — 

" Tuesday morning, June eleventh, was one of the 
sweetest days of the month. By nine o'clock in the 
morning, a large concourse of persons had assembled at 
Fort Snelling, from various quarters, and especially 
from St. Paul, to witness the council. Fort Snelling is 
at the extreme angle of a high table land, between the 
Mississippi and the St. Peter's — a beautiful elevated 
plain, covered with grass as far as the eye can extend. 
Near the bank of the Mississippi, and distant from the 
fort a few hundred yards, are the stables of the garri- 
son, and on the open space between the garrison and the 
stables were the encampments of the Chippewas, and 
there was the council ground. Captain Monroe was 
present with a small detachment of infantry, and a few 
troops were ready for service in the fort, as well as 
artillery. The Chippewas were lying about their tents, 
seeming quite contented, laughing, talking, playing 
together, and some gambling in various ways. There 
seemed nothing surly or stoical in their countenances. 
A message was at length sent by the governor to notify 



DAHKOTAHS ADVANCING TO THE COUNCIL. 529 

the Sioux that they would be expected in half an hour, 
if at all. 

" At length they made their appearance a mile distant, 
upon a brow of the hill across the St. Peter's. The few 
infantry present, on the approach of the Sioux, were 
extended in an open line, nearly from the Fort to the 
stables, so as to form a separation between the Chippe- 
was in their rear and the advancing band of the Sioux, 
numbering perhaps three hundred, a large portion on 
horseback, armed and painted, who by this time were 
rushing up on the plateau, screaming and whooping 
horribly, themselves loaded with jingling arms and orna- 
ments, and their horses with bells on, the whole of them 
rushing on at full speed and making a feint as if they 
would pass around the stable, turn the right flank of 
the infantry, and attack the Chippewas ; but they were 
only showing off; having, in fact, all due respect for 
those ugly cast iron orators of Uncle Sam's. The line 
of Chippewas remained where it was at the time of 
the grand entree (for we can compare it to nothing it 
so much resembled as a grand entree into a stupendous 
circus), they continuing to dance and shout, and bran- 
dish their weapons as if aching for an onslaught. 
Among them, conspicuous as Achilles in the battle of 
Troy, stood the young Pillager chief, Sitting-in-a-row, 
standing six and a half feet in his moccasins, well pro- 
portioned, and weighing two hundred and twenty 
pounds, who takes his name, perhaps, from the fact that 
he is equal to a man or two beside himself. The Sioux 
soon fell back and formed a line ; they discharged their 
pieces in a scattering fire along the line. The Chippe- 
wa line returned their salute ; after which Uncle Sam 
replied by the mouth of one of his cast iron orators, 



530 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

who were so persuasive in Mexico. The representation 
of a white flag then appearing between the two oppos- 
ing lines, the Chippewas first and next the Sioux, 
marched away and stacked their arms. Then return- 
ing, the two lines advanced until they reached the file 
of infantry which separated them, when the chiefs and 
braves met at the centre between the lines, and, advanc- 
ing, went through the ceremony of shaking hands. The 
governor then took his seat in a marquee, with Captain 
Todd, Captain Monroe, Mr. McLean, Mr. Preseott, 
Sioux Interpreter, Mr. Warren, Chippewa Interpreter, 
W. B. White, Esq., Secretary of the Council, and the 
Sioux chiefs occupying one side, while the Chippewas 
occupied the other side of the marquee ; besides which 
some small space was occupied by several ladies who 
were present, just in front of the Sioux. 

" His excellency, the governor, having given notice 
that the council was now open, then made substantially 
the following speech, through the interpreters, who both 
seemed very prompt and accurate in translating. Mr. 
Preseott speaking the harsh, guttural, clucking language 
of the Sioux, and Mr. Warren, an educated half-breed 
Chippewa, rolling off the euphonious sentences in the 
Chippewa tongue, with the utmost fluency : — 

"Chiefs, braves, and head men of the Chippewa 
nation, and chiefs, braves, and head men of the Sioux 
nation : You are here, under the flag of our Great 
Father, the president, to see if you can settle your diffi- 
culties and bury the hatchet. I hope this will be done, 
and that peace will be made, for the sake of your poor 
bleeding wives and children. Long ago, the white 
children of your Great Father, lived far off and only 
heard of the outrages you committed upon each other; 



GOV. RAMSEY'S SPEECH IN COUNCIL. 531 

but now they live amongst you, and all around you. 
They see the reeking scalps of your victims. Things 
are now changed. The whites are upon the Mississippi, 
the Missouri, the St. Peter's, every where. They witness 
what you do. They will not suffer these atrocities ; if 
they did, the Great Spirit would not smile upon them. 
To many of you, this may seem harsh. If we only 
wanted your lands, we would give you firearms and let 
you kill each other. You know at what trouble and 
expense your Great Father has been to keep ardent 
spirits away from you, which would, if not thus pre- 
vented, soon destroy you, if we wanted only your lands. 
You well know the power of your Great Father ; that 
he has ten thousand villages, each larger than all the 
villages together of either of your tribes; and that his 
people not only live upon the land, but upon the ocean, 
sailing upon long voyages; that all you see here of the 
Great Father's villages, are few and small, but that it is 
not so elsewhere. Your white brethren are proud to be 
the children of so great a Father, and no doubt, you, his 
red children, are proud of it. Your Father is not only 
great, but good. He loves his red children as well as 
his white, or he would let them go to war. He regards 
both of your tribes with equal favour. Under his flag 
he has red, white, and black children, all whose differ- 
ent interests he protects. Numerous as you are, yet 
when compared to all the tribes under his protection, 
you are but as a single blade of grass to a whole prairie. 
[Here some interruption occurred by the Sioux outside, 
riding about on horseback. They were required to dis- 
mount.] I do not say these things by way of boast, 
but to let you know that your Great Father is able to 
enforce any treaty you may make. I am aware that 



532 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

complaints are made on both sides, that the treaty has 
not been enforced ; but as I told you, his business ex- 
tends so far that he has to do it by agents and officers, 
who sometimes neglect to do their duty ; that the Great 
Father has now sent an agent, who thinks as I do, that 
it is right that your old troubles should be buried. A 
treaty between you, made in 1843, is now in full force, 
but it has been so long neglected, that we do not like 
to make it a rule of redress. Your Great Father prefers 
that you settle these troubles yourselves. If you say 
you are hereditary foes and cannot make a permanent 
peace, it is not true. The two nations next in power 
to this, France and Great Britain, were foes for many 
hundreds of years, but are now friends, peaceful and 
happy, without wars. You should leave off wars and 
learn that a bushel of potatoes is worth more to one 
who is hungry than a pile of eagle plumes. Long ago 
the white race had your notions about labour, but now 
they are changed. Your Great Father knows that when 
you strike, you often kill those who have treated you 
as friends ; that three-fourths of the scalps you take are 
those of women and children, who could not and would 
not hurt you. Amongst the whites, he who should kill 
a woman or a child would be considered less than a dog. 
Your Great Father is determined that you shall not 
scalp women and children. You have a treaty in force, 
but your Great Father prefers that you settle matters 
and make a new treaty. I should be glad to send him 
word that you had buried the hatchet. There are many 
bleeding hearts here, but you must forgive and forget. 
To assist in shaping a treaty, I recommend that each 
nation appoint a committee of three or five men to 



DAHKOTAHS RUDE.— HOLE-IN-THE-DAY'S GALLANTRY. 533 

assist — submitting it afterwards to yourselves to decide 
upon. 

" Hole-in~the-day. — All men that live have minds of 
their own, and had better settle their own affairs. 

"After some explanation, the committee was agreed 
to. The following gentlemen were appointed : On the 
part of the Sioux, W. H. Forbes, 0. Faribault, and 
Captain Monroe, United States Army; on the part of 
the Chippewas, Mr. Warren, Mr. Beaulieu, and Captain 
Todd. Bad-Hail, a saucy-looking Sioux orator, then 
stepped up and asked that another commissioner, Mr. 
Alexander Faribault, might be appointed on their part. 
The governor replied, that he would submit their pro- 
position to the magnanimity of the Chippewas. At 
this time the Sioux arose, with a great deal of talk, and 
left the council en masse. Upon inquiry, it seems that 
their highnesses had taken offence at the presence of the 
ladies in council; and word came in that 'they thought 
they were to meet Chippewas in council, not women.' 
Hole-in-the-day adroitly turned the matter to his own 
advantage, saying very politely, that lie was happy to see 
so many sweet women there, and that they were all wel- 
come with their angelic smiles, to a seat on his side of the 
council. The ladies, however, chose to withdraw, the 
young Chippewa chief shaking each one cordially by 
the hand. The Sioux having returned, the governor 
rebuked them sharply for their act of disrespect to the 
council, saying, that if they withdrew again in that 
manner, he would enforce the treaty of 1843. Bad- 
Hail said they wanted time to consider, and that a 
treaty could not be made in a day. After this little 
interlude, the council proceeded, the Chippewas con- 
senting to the appointment of the fourth commissioner 



534 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

on each side. Rev. Mr. Gear was appointed on the 
part of the Chippewas; for the Sioux, A. Faribault. 
The council then adjourned to meet at ten o'clock on 
"Wednesday morning." 

On Wednesday, after much talking, as is customary 
at Indian councils, the two tribes agreed as they had 
frequently done before, to be friendly, and Governor 
Ramsey presenting to each party an ox, the council was 
dissolved. 

On Thursday, the Ojibways visited St. Paul for the 
first time, Hole-in-the-Day being dressed in a coat of 
a captain of United States infantry, which had been 
presented to him at the fort. On Friday, they left in 
the steamer Governor Ramsey, which had been built at 
St. Anthony, and just commenced running between 
that point and Sauk Rapids, for their homes in the wil- 
derness of the Upper Mississippi. 

The summer of 1850 was the commencement of the 
navigation of the Minnesota river by steamboats. With 
the exception of a steamer that made a pleasure excur- 
sion as far as Shokpay, in 1842, no large vessels had 
ever disturbed the waters of this stream. In June, the 
"Anthony Wayne," which a month previous had ascended 
to the Falls of St. Anthony, made a trip. On the 
eighteenth of July she made a second trip, going almost 
to Mahkahto. The " Nominee" also navigated the 
stream for some distance. 

On the twenty-second of July the officers of the 
" Yankee," taking advantage of the high water, deter- 
mined to navigate the stream as far as the size of the 
boat would allow. The author was one of the numer- 
ous party of exploration, and he here inserts impressions 
in the form they were written at that time, when the 



FIRST STEAMBOAT ABOVE MAHKAHTO. 535 

whole country west of the Mississippi was in possession 
of the barbarians. 

As there was some danger in navigating a stream, 
whose waters had never been disturbed for any distance 
by the paddles of the " fire canoe," we did not ascend 
on the first evening more than twenty-five miles above 
the fort, At early dawn on Tuesday, the steamer was 
again in motion, and curved around the numerous short 
bends of this zig-zag stream, with wonderful ease. The 
scenery, the farther we advanced, became more varied 
and beautiful. Here there was an extensive prairie, 
" stretching in graceful undulations far away ;" there a 
wide amphitheatre encircled by cone-shaped hills, and 
inviting the agriculturist to seek shelter for himself and 
his cattle ; owing to the high tide of water, we passed 
quite early in the morning some rapids without any 
difficulty. During the day we met with little to excite 
us. Now and then, we would pass an Indian in his 
canoe, who, frightened by the puffing and novel appear- 
ance of the boat, had crouched behind the overhanging 
boughs of the w r eeping willow. Upon the south bank 
of the river, eighty-five miles from Fort Snelling, within 
a few yards of some ledges of fawn-coloured limestone, 
there enters a little stream of clear and pure water, 
which Featherstonhaugh, who explored the country some 
years ago, named "Abert's Run." In the afternoon, 
we passed a bluff of sand and limestone, similar to 
those so frequent on the Upper Mississippi, which is 
called White Rock. About twelve miles beyond this, 
we came to Traverse des Sioux, where we did not stop, 
as we were anxious to ascend as far as possible by sun- 
set. The wood we had taken with us began to grow 
scarce, and a little distance above this point the boat 



536 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

stopped y and the crew and many of the passengers began 
to chop wood. 

While engaged in this occupation, some two or three 
Dahkotah Indians, painted and plumed, and covered 
with perspiration, galloped up on their Indian ponies. 
To pacify them, and pay for the wood which it was 
necessary to take from their lands, the party presented 
them with some sacks of corn, and treated them to a 
glass of fire water, which was entirely unnecessary. 
At dusk the boat tied up, in front of a beautiful prairie, 
elevated some seventy feet above the river ; and there 
those whose tastes and principles permitted, danced 
until the heat and the mosquitoes forced them back to 
the boat. The view from this prairie was exceedingly 
interesting. It was bounded by a belt of woodland, 
and upon the opposite side, were slopes most beautifully 
rounded. Upon its surface, jutting from the green 
sward, were boulders of every size and shape, looking 
in the dark as if the cattle had come down from a 
thousand hills, and were in repose. 

As the writer sat upon the deck, he could but be 
interested in looking over the party and seeing how 
well they harmonized, born, as they had been, in va- 
rious parts of the continent, and educated under diverse 
influences. Among the party was one who had been 
an aid of General Harrison, and at a later day our am- 
bassador at the court of Russia ; another who had grad- 
uated at West Point and the Yale Law School, and who 
had been wounded while in command of a regiment at 
Monterey. 

Among the half-breeds was one who had been the 
guide and interpreter of Nicollet, while engaged in sci- 
entific explorations in the valley of the Minnesota; 



SUPPOSED BUFFALOES— MOSQUITOES. 537 

also one by the name of Renville, the son of one of the 
most intelligent and benevolent half-natives who ever 
dwelt in the Dahkotah country. 

Before sunrise on Wednesday morning, the boat had 
left her moorings, and was proceeding onward. At 
breakfast time we had reached the highest point to 
which a steamboat had ever ascended, a feat that was 
accomplished the week previous by the "Anthony 
Wayne." 

About nine and-a-half, A. M., we passed the Blue 
Earth river. The latitude of this point is about forty- 
four degrees, being nearly one degree lower than the 
mouth of the Minnesota. Our course until now was 
south-westerly, but henceforward it is north-westerly. 
After passing the Blue Earth, the Minnesota is much 
narrower, and the bends so numerous that the boat did 
not go in one direction at any one time for more than 
five minutes. During the morning, the report was 
raised that some buffaloes were grazing in the distance, 
and, for a time, there was quite an excitement ; but the 
nearing of the boat, and the use of the spy-glass, dis- 
pelled our hopes, and exhibited in their stead huge 
boulders scattered among the prairie grass. At night, 
we arrived near the mouth of the Cotton Wood river, 
about two hundred miles from Fort Snelling. The day 
had been intensely hot, the thermometer having been 
at one hundred and four degrees in the shade ; and as 
soon as the sun had set a cloud of mosquitoes enveloped 
us. The cabins were smoked, and the mosquitoes beat 
with green boughs, but they could not be forced to re- 
treat. They looked upon us as intruders, and seemed 
determined to make us smart, and leave their impres- 
sion. 



538 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

The ice, too, had failed, and the ladies of the party 
began to feel that there was more reality than poetry 
in an exploring expedition into an uncivilized country. 
A meeting was called to see if the captain should turn 
back, but the majority decided to go on. That night 
few of the male members of the party entered their 
state-rooms, but nearly all wrapped in mosquito-bar 
were stretched upon the hurricane deck, vainly endea- 
vouring to sleep. When Thursday's sun arose, the 
boat was not in motion. The crew were worn out by 
their extra labours, and even those of the passengers 
who had been anxious to navigate farther, had been 
brought to terms by the severe wounds that had been 
inflicted upon them by the mosquito. 

It is quite a coincidence that Major Long and his 
party, twenty-seven years before, suffered the same in- 
convenience, near the same place, by the same insect. 
Says his narrative : " We never were tormented at any 
period of our journey, more than when travelling in 
the vicinity of the St. Peter's. The mosquitoes rose all 
of a sudden. We have been frequently so much an- 
noyed by these insects, as to be obliged to relinquish an 
unfinished supper, or to throw away a cup of tea which 
we could not enjoy. To protect our feet and legs we 
were obliged to lie with our boots on." 

While at breakfast, to the satisfaction of all parties 
concerned, the prow of the boat turned once more to- 
wards the land of civilization and comfort. At dinner 
time we turned into the Blue Earth river. This is a 
rapid stream, with pebbly banks, and the principal 
tributary of the Minnesota. The scenery around it is 
picturesque, and it will always be viewed with interest 
because of a French fort or trading-post having been 



TRAVERSE DES SIOUX. 539 

built here one hundred and fifty years ago. Upon the 
banks of the Blue Earth, the party gathered some tol- 
erable specimens of agate and carnelian, and a dark 
substance resembling cannel coal, but probably lignite. 
It was the discovery of this mineral, no doubt, that led 
some of the old travellers to mark on their maps a coal 
mine on the Minnesota, a few miles above Fort Snelling. 

Just at dark, the boat reached Traverse des Sioux. 
This is one of those spots which nature has marked out 
for a town of some importance. It derives its name 
from the fact, that for a long period it has been a cross- 
ing-place of the Sioux or Dahkotahs. The landing here 
is easy, the soil is fertile, woodland is convenient, and 
from a ridge of two hundred feet in elevation, there is 
a creek affording a great amount of water power, and 
easily accessible from the river. The spot is now occu- 
pied by an Indian village of a portion of the Dahko- 
tahs, a trading-house, and three neat and plain white 
buildings occupied for mission purposes by the mission- 
aries. There are many acres of land in cultivation, 
presenting quite an air of comfort and of civilization. 
As it had been some time since we had any ice, most 
of the passengers left the boat, and walked to the mis- 
sion premises, where they found a well of clear and 
cool water, and to which they did ample justice. 

Instead of returning to the boat, the writer passed 
the evening with the Rev. Mr. Hopkins, the missionary 
of the American Board in charge of this station. His 
wife, in the course of conversation, mentioned that the 
Indians could not conceive of the object that led the 
white men to navigate a stream which was not theirs ; 
and that the children had been in through the day, to 
tell her how terribly frightened they had been by the 



540 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

steam-whistle ; and to inquire whether it was a human 
being or the boat that made such an unearthly noise. 

Leaving Traverse des Sioux early on Friday morning, 
we passed during the day some ancient mounds of the 
same kind as those scattered through Wisconsin and 
Illinois. Inasmuch as the Smithsonian Institution has 
volunteered to publish a description of the earth- works 
near Lake Pepin, and mounds in other parts of Minne- 
sota, it is to be hoped that some gentleman of leisure 
will sketch and prepare descriptions of them. 

In the middle of the afternoon, we stopped at Six 
Village, the largest village of the Dahkotahs. About 
three hundred warriors, squaws, and children were on 
the bank, eager to see the wonder. As the steam-whis- 
tle screeched it was amusing to see the boys and girls 
tumbling over each other in their haste to escape. The 
chief soon stepped on board and demanded a present, 
for the privilege of navigating the river. He also con- 
tended that a canoe had been broken ; but as he did not 
give the company ocular evidence of the fact, they did 
not pay him ; but presented him with some pieces of 
calico, provisions, and a box of Spanish green. Since 
1847, the American Board has had a missionary resid- 
ing here, the Rev. S. W. Pond. The population around 
him, within four or five miles, is about six hundred ; 
and at a little distance is another band of two hundred 
and fifty. Sixteen miles below this is a fourth mission 
station. The missionary in charge is the Rev. G. Pond- 
He has resided with the Indians for many years, and is 
one of the best speakers of their language. 

Though there are four stations on the Minnesota 
river, and two on the Mississippi below St. Paul, the 
prospects of the Dahkotah mission are not bright. The 



OPPOSITION TO MISSIONARIES. 541 

male portion of the nation, with but few exceptions, 
have an inveterate hatred of the Christian religion, and 
look upon the missionaries as intruders who drink their 
water and plough their soil, but give nothing in return. 
The few that would gladly listen to instruction are de- 
terred from the fear of ridicule and persecution. 

After a rapid run of nine miles from the village at 
which the Rev. Gideon Pond resides, we came once 
more in sight of the stars and stripes floating from the 
walls of Fort Snelling. 

At an early bed hour, on Friday night, the steamboat 
was moored at the landing of St. Paul. 

It had been demonstrated that steamboats of light 
draught could navigate the Minnesota, by the removal 
of a few obstructions, at all stages of water, to Traverse 
des Sioux, and even to the Blue Earth river. In a year 
or more the Dahkotahs will make a treaty and leave 
the land of their ancestors, and then, in an incredibly 
short period, the war whoop, the scalp dance, the skin 
lodge, and the canoe, of the red man, will give place to 
the lowing of cattle, the hum of children conning their 
lessons in the school-house, the neat village church, with 
its spire pointing heavenward, and a frugal and indus- 
trious American husbandry. The foreign missionary 
will soon give way to the home missionary, and what a 
field is the Territory of Minnesota for the latter to work 
in ! Like the people of the northern latitudes of Europe, 
the future population of Minnesota will be hardy and 
intelligent. They will crave a learned and zealous 
ministry. The towns now settled are like what Stock- 
bridge, Massachusetts, was a century ago, filled with 
Indians and white land speculators, and a few church 
members. We would have labour here in the home 



542 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

field, just such missionaries as Jonathan Edwards and 
his wife, the beautiful and holy Sarah Pierpont, who 
was such a valuable helpmeet in spiritual as well as 
temporal things, Whitfield is said to have offered up a 
prayer that God would send him just such a daughter 
of Abraham to be his wife. Minnesota does not desire 
ministers that will leave the East, because they possess 
narcotic properties; she does not want men who will 
love New England or any other section so as to be un- 
fitted to construct society out of the " rude and jostling 
materials" which will here abound ; she does not want 
heralds of salvation to come here and sow wheat upon 
a quarter-section, but to sow the seed of God beside all 
waters ; she does not want firm partisans of any school 
or ism, but men who will advocate a broad and com- 
prehensive Christianity ; she does not want young men 
to come within her borders, because they think that 
to their friends they will appear more comely and bril- 
liant, upon the principle that " distance lends enchant- 
ment to the view;" but she desires, in view of the fact 
that Indian claims will be soon extinguished, scholars 
who have bathed themselves in the learning of the in- 
spired writings ; gentlemen like Paul who will be high- 
minded, willing to work with their own hands rather 
than cringe, glorying in being able to visit some rude 
cabin, to whisper consolation, and thinking themselves 
happy when they can gain the ear of an Agrippa, Felix, 
Drusilla, or Bernice. In fine, Minnesota desires for her 
future population a ministry who, in the true sense, can 
be " all things to all men." 

As the time for the general election in September 
approached, considerable excitement was manifested. 
As there were no political issues before the people, 



ELECTION FOR DELEGATE— MISS BREMER. 



543 



parties were formed based on personal preferences. 
Among those nominated for delegate to Congress, by 
various meetings, were H. H. Sibley, the former dele- 
gate to Congress, David Olmsted, at that time engaged 
in the Indian trade, and A. M. Mitchell, the United 
States' marshal. Mr. Olmsted withdrew his name be- 
fore election day, and the contest was between those 
interested in Sibley and Mitchell. The friends of each 
betrayed the greatest zeal, and neither pains nor money 
were spared to insure success. Mr. Sibley was elected 
by a small majority. 1 For the first time in the terri- 
tory, soldiers at the garrisons voted at this election, and 
there was considerable discussion as to the propriety of 
such a course. 

Miss Fredrika Bremer, the well known Swedish 
novelist, visited Minnesota in the month of October, 
and was the guest of Governor Eamsey. 2 



1 The following are the returns of 
the late election for Delegate, as filed 
in the office of the Secretary : — 



Precincts. 


Sibley. 


Mitch 


St. Paul, . . 


. 151 


153 


St. Anthony, . 


. 64 


110 


Little Canada, 


. 44 


8 


Stillwater, . . 


. 117 


59 


Marine, . . 


. 17 


4 


Falls St. Croix, 


. 17 





Snake River, . 


10 





Prairie, . . . 


54 


24 


Sauk Rapids, . . 


3 


60 


Swan River, . . 


22 


56 


Crow Wing, . 


8 


48 


Elk River, . . 


16 


8 


Nokaseppi, 


36 


26 


Lac qui Parle, 


12 





Mendota, . . . 


78 


3 



649 



559 



2 St. Paul, as described by the 
novelist of Sweden, in 1850, and St. 
Paul in 1858, with its gas lamps 
and public edifices, are very differ- 
ent places : — 

" Scarcely had we touched the 
shore, when the governor of Minne- 
sota, and his pretty young wife, 
came on board and invited me to 
take up my quarters at their house. 
And there I am now; happy with 
these kind people, and with them I 
make excursions into the neighbour- 
hood. The town is one of the 
youngest infants of the Great West, 
scarcely eighteen months old : and 
yet it has in a short time increased 
to a population of two thousand 
persons, and in a very few years it 
will certainly be possessed of twen- 
ty-two thousand ; for its situation is 



544 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



During November, the Dahkotah Tawaxitku Kin, or 
the Dahkotah Friend, a monthly paper, was commenced, 
one-half in the Dahkotah and one-half in the English 
language. Its editor was the Rev. Gideon H. Pond, and 
its place of publication at St. Paul. It was published 
for nearly two years, and, though it failed to attract the 
attention of the Indian mind, it conveyed to the English 
reader much correct information in relation to the habits, 
the belief, and superstitions, of the Dahkotahs. 

On the tenth of December, a new paper, owned and 
edited by Daniel A. Robertson, late United States' mar- 
shal, of Ohio, and called the Minnesota Democrat, made 
its appearance. 



as remarkable for its beauty and 
healthiness, as it is advantageous 
for trade. 

"As yet, however, the town is 
but in its infancy, and people ma- 
nage with such dwellings as they 
jan get. The drawing-room at Go- 
vernor Ramsey's house is also his 
v ffice, and Indians and workpeople, 
and ladies and gentlemen, are all 
alike admitted. In the mean time, 
Mr. Ramsey is building a handsome, 
spacious house upon a hill, a little 
out of the city [now in the middle 
of the west end of the city], with 
beautiful trees around it, and com- 
manding a grand view of the river. 
If I were to live on the Mississippi, 
I would live here. It is a hilly re- 
gion, and on all sides extend beauti- 
ful and varying landscapes. 

" The city is thronged with In- 
dians. The men, for the most part, 
go about grandly ornamented, with 
naked hatchets, the shafts of which 
serve them as pipes. They paint 



themselves so utterly without any 
taste, that it is incredible. Here 
comes an Indian who has painted 
a great red spot in the middle of 
his nose ; here another who has 
painted the whole of his forehead 
in lines of black and yellow ; there 
a third with coal black rings round 
his eyes. * * * * The women 
are less painted, with better taste 
than the men, generally with merely 
one deep red little spot in the mid- 
dle of the cheeks ; and the parting 
of the hair on the forehead is dyed 
purple. There goes an Indian with 
his proud step, bearing aloft his 
plumed head. He carries only his 
pipe, and when he is on a journey, 
perhaps a long stajff in his hand. 
After him, with bowed head and 
stooping shoulders, follows his wife, 
bending under the burden which 
she bears. Above the burden peeps 
forth a little round-faced child, with 
beautiful dark eyes." 



FIB£ I THANKSGIVING DAY. 546 

During the summer there had been changes in the 
editorial supervision of the "Chronicle and Register. " 
For a brief period it was edited by L. A. Babcock, Esq., 
who was succeeded by W. G. Le Due. 

About the time of the issuing of the Democrat, C. J. 
Henniss, formerly reporter for the United States Gazette, 
Philadelphia, became the editor of the Chronicle. 

The first proclamation for a thanksgiving day was 
issued in 1850 by the governor, and the twenty-sixth of 
December was the time appointed, and it was generallv 
observed. 



35 



546 



HISTORY OF MiHN£S</U. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

On Wednesday, January first, 1851, the second Legis- 
lative Assembly 1 assembled in a three-story brick bund- 



1 The following persons composed the second Legislative Assembly : — 



Councillors. 


No. of District. Residence. 




Age. 


Place of Nativity 


James S. Norris, . 


. . 1 . 


Cottage Grove 


> • • 


39 


Maine. 


Samuel Burkleo, . 


. 2 . 


Stillwater, . 


. . . 


46 


Delaware. 


"William H. Forbes, 


. 3 . 


St. Paul, . 




35 


Montreal, C. 


James McC. Boal, 


. 3 . 


" 


. 


39 


Pennsylvania. 


David B. Loomis, 


. 4 . 


Marine Mills, 


, 


33 


Connecticut. 


John Rollins, . 


. 5 . 


Falls of St. Anthony, 


42 


Maine. 


David Olmsted, . 


. 6 . 


Long Prairie, 


. 


28 


Vermont. 


William Sturges, 


. 6 . 


Elk River, . 


. 


32 


Up. Canada. 


Martin McLeod, . . 


. 7 . 


Lac qui Parle, 


• • 


36 


Montreal, C. 


Representatives. 












James Wells, . . . 


. 1 . 


Lake Pepin, 


. 


47 


N. Jersey. 


John A. Ford, . . 


. 1 . 


Red Rock, . 


• • . 


38 


New York. 


M. E. Ames, . . 


. 2 . 


Stillwater, . 


> . . 


30 


Vermont. 


Sylvanus Trask, . . 


. 2 . 


«< 


. 


30 


New York. 


Jesse Taylor, . . . 


. 2 . 


« 


. . 


45 


Kentucky. 


Benjamin W. Brunsc 


n, 3 . 


St. Paul, . . 


. . 


26 


Michigan. 


J. C. Ramsey, . . . 


. 3 . 


<( 


. . 


29 


Pennsylvania. 


Edmund Rice, . . 


. 3 . 


«« 


. 


30 


Vermont. 


H. L. Tilden, . . . 


. 3 . 


Marine Mills, 


• • 


32 
32 


Connecticut. 


John D. Ludden, . . 


. 4 . 


Massachusetts 


John W. North, . . 


. 5 . 


Falls of St. Ae 


thony, 


35 


New York. 


Edward Patch, . . 


. 5 . 


(< 




27 


et 


S. B. Olmstead, . . 


. 6 . 


Belle Prairie, 


. 


36 


«« 


W. W. Warren, . . 


. 6 . 


Gull Lake, 


. . 


26 


L. Superior. 



BITTER PARTY FEELING. 547 

ing, since destroyed by fire, that stood on St. Anthony 
street, between Washington and Franklin. D. B. 
Loomis was chosen speaker of the Council, and M. E. 
Ames speaker of the House. 1 This assembly was cha- 
racterized by more bitterness of feeling than any that 
has since convened. The previous delegate election had 
been based on personal preferences, and cliques and fac- 
tions manifested themselves at an early period of the 
session. 

On the morning of January sixteenth, an editorial 
appeared in the Pioneer grossly attacking the character 
of one of the judges of the territory. Every word 
was barbed, and naturally irritated the brother of the 
judge, who was then absent at Washington. Meeting 
the editor near the building used as the capitol, a ren- 
contre took place in which Mr. Goodhue was severely 
stabbed in the abdomen, and the other party was shot. 
Among other exciting topics was the election of public 
printer. The candidates were the editors of the Pioneer, 
Democrat, and the Chronicle and Register; the Whig 
members coalescing with the friends of Mr. Sibley, the 
editor of the Pioneer was elected. 

The locating of the penitentiary at Stillwater, and 
the capitol building at St. Paul gave some dissatisfac- 
tion. By the efforts of J. W. North, Esq., a bill creat- 
ing the University of Minnesota at or near the Falls 
of St. Anthony was passed and signed by the governor. 
This institution, by the constitution afterwards adopted 

Representative?. No. of District. Residence. Age. Place of Nativity. 

D. T. Sloan, .... 6 . Little Rock, ... 36 Xew York. 

David Gilman, . . . 6 . Watab 39 

Alex. Faribault, . . . 7 . Mendota, .... 46 Minnesota. 

B. H. Randall, . . . 7 . Fort Snelling, . . 27 Vermont 



548 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

by the vote of the people, is now the state university, 
and has obtained the two townships of land granted for 
that purpose. 

The apportionment bill, based on the census of 1850, 
led to a bitter personal discussion, but was passed on 
Saturday, March twenty-ninth. The opponents of the 
biU in the House of Representatives, seven in number, 
on the same day resigned their seats. They contended 
that the census was incorrect ; that Benton county, with 
four thousand acres under cultivation, by the bill had 
but one half the representation that Pembina county 
had, where there were but seventy acres under cultiva- 
tion, and more than one-half of that belonging to one 
individual. They also urged the fact that, excepting 
soldiers, at least seven-eighths of the population were 
Indians, and that the legislature had no authority over 
the unceded lands. 1 

1 Correspondence in relation to weight in the settlement of the 

points in dispute : — points referred to. I have the honour, 

"House of Representatives, therefore, to request that you will 

" Washington, Feb. 27, 1851. reply to the following queries, to 

"Hon. James Thompson, Chairman wit: — 

of the Judiciary Committee: "First: Does, or does not the or- 

"Dear Sir: — There are questions ganic act of Minnesota, grant to the 

mooted among the people of Minne- Legislative Assembly full jurisdic- 

sota, as to the extent of the authority tion over all the country embraced 

conferred by the Organic Act, upon within the limits of the territory, 

the Legislative Assembly of the ter- restricted solely by provisions of 

ritory, and other matters connected Indian treaties conflicting with it, 

with the exercise of that jurisdic- should such exist? 

tion on the Indian country, which "Second: Does, or does not the 

comprises all the region west of the organic act secure to all the peo- 

Mississippi. The distinguished po- pie, living as well on the unceded as 

sition you occupy as the head of the the ceded lands, the right of repre- 

Judiciary Committee, and your ac- sentation in the Assembly, and of 

knowledged eminence as a lawyer, voting at all elections, subject only 

will invest your opinion with great to the restriction} of the laws to 



SUFFERING AND SICKNESS OF OJIBWAYS. 



549 



The Ojibways of Ked, Cass, Leech, and Sandy Lakes 
suffered much during the winter of 1850-51. About 
the first of October, 1850, the Indians collected at the 
new agency at Sandy Lake, to receive their annuities. 



regulate the qualifications of voters, 
and are not elections held on the 
unceded lands made equally valid 
and legal by the provisions of the 
organic law, with those held on the 
ceded country ? 

" An early reply to the questions 
will be gratefully acknowledged by, 
" Yours, very respectfully, 

"H. H. Sibley." 

" Washington, Feb. 28, 1851. 
"Hon. H. H. Sibley, Delegate from 
the Territory of Minnesota : 
"Dear Sir: — I have examined, 
though briefly, the law organizing 
the Territory of Minnesota, in rela- 
tion to the questions you propound 
in your note of yesterday. I was 
surprised that any question of the 
kind could arise in the mind of any 
one. I had been one of the com- 
mittee that framed the law in ques- 
tion, and I presume that no one of 
that committee ever doubted that 
the legislative power of the terri- 
tory extended to the entire limits of 
the territory, restricted only to 
' rightful subjects of legislation, con- 
sistent with the Constitution of the 
United States, and the provisions of 
this act/ and subject to the approval 
of Congress. Nothing of course 
could be done by the legislature of 
the territory in regard to the Indian 
tribes, as this subject belongs ex- 
clusively to Congress, but that the 
territory, in all its parts, was devoted 



to the same legislative control, is 
proved by the provision that every 
free white citizen of the age of 
twenty-one years, who shall have 
been a resident of the territory at 
the time of the passage of the act, 
shall be entitled to vote at the first 
election. All could vote; the conse- 
quence of which is apparent — that 
all, in contemplation of law, were 
to be represented. Subsequent legis- 
latures could regulate the qualifica- 
tions of voters, but in the territory, 
and in any part of it, the right of 
voting would remain, and of course 
the right of representation. 

"This short view of the subject 
answers the points made in your 
note. The organic law of the terri- 
tory regarded the entire territory in 
precisely the same light — all parts 
of it entitled to representation — all 
male citizens of twenty-one years of 
age, being free, no matter where 
situated or living, being entitled to 
vote. The legislation over the whole 
territory is a complete right in the 
territorial legislature, subject only 
to the restrictions implied in the ex- 
clusive right of Congress to regulate 
the intercourse between the Indian 
tribes. Excuse the imperfections of 
this note, written in the midst of a 
boisterous debate. 

"With great respect, 
" I am truly yours, 
"James Thompson." 



550 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

supposing that they would be immediately paid. To 
their disappointment they were kept waiting for seven 
or eight weeks, and while there measles and dysentery 
carried off hundreds. Some of the provisions received 
at the payment appear in some way to have been 
damaged, and this increased the mortality. The wife 
of a missionary, writing from Red Lake, on the first of 
February, says : — 

" Many of the Indians who attended the payment 
last fall at Sandy Lake, will remember the place for a 
long time as the burying-place of their friends. The 
Indians gathered there to receive their annuities about 
the first of October, expecting payment to take place in 
a few days ; but they were put off from time to time for 
two long months, and then were obliged to leave, hav- 
ing received but a part of their dues. During their stay 
there, the dysentery and measles prevailed, and carried 
off great numbers of them ; many others were attacked, 
and in this state were obliged to start for their respec- 
tive homes. Provisions were so scarce that they could 
not procure food for their journey home, and many of 
them died on the way. It is reported that more than 
five hundred have died since the sickness commenced. 

" To give you an idea of their suffering, I will furnish 
you with an account of one family, near neighbours of 
ours. 

" This family consisting of a man and his wife, two 
children, and his wife's brother, started from Sandy 
Lake in health, with food enough for their journey, if 
they had not been detained on their way. About half- 
way from Sandy Lake to Leech Lake, the wife's brother 
was taken sick, and detained them several days, when 
he died; they buried him and came on. Three days' 



MORTALITY AMONG OJIBWAYS. 551 

march from Leech Lake, the two children were taken 
sick, the oldest a boy of twelve years old (who, by the 
way. was the best boy we have known in the country, 
a member of our school, one we had hoped to educate), 
the other a girl two years old. At this time their food 
was all gone. The father was obliged to carry his sick 
son, and the mother the daughter, until the last night 
before they reached Leech Lake, when the boy died. 
The next morning they set off again, the father carry- 
ing the corpse of his son, and the mother a sick child. 
About noon the girl died, but they came on until they 
reached Leech Lake, bringing the dead bodies of their 
children on their backs. 

"Another man started from Sandy Lake for Cass 
Lake with his sister, in company with another family. 
He was taken sick soon after he left Sandy Lake, but 
travelled on until about half-way to Leech Lake, and 
died. The next morning the family went on. The 
sister remained by the body alone, one night and two 
days, when some Indians came along and buried it. 

"There are more Indians about us this winter than 
there have been any winter before, since I have been m 
the country. Many have come here from Leech Lake, 
Cass Lake, and Lake Winnepec, to live by begging, 
having nothing to eat at home. Probably not less than 
forty families are wintering here from other bands. 
Many of them were intending to go to the plains, but 
so many are sick, and the snow so deep, that they dare 
not start out. This band last fall, had provision enough 
to make them comfortable for the year, but having so 
many beggars to live upon them, they will all be out by 
sugar-making." 

Hole-in-the-day. the Ojibway chief, addressed the 



552 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



legislaturu in relation to the wants of his people. The 
.speech at the First Presbyterian Church, attracted a 
great crowd. He in true Indian style narrated the suf- 
fering of his people, and begged in the inimitable manner 
of his race; and a committee was appointed to solicit 
subscriptions for their relief. During the winter, hunger 
is said to have driven some to cannibalism. 1 



1 Extract from Minnesota Demo- 
crat, July 29, 1851 :— 

" Last winter an old man and wo- 
man of the Pillager Band of Chip- 
pewa Indians, with two married 
daughters, went from Leech Lake to 
Lake Itasca, to spend the winter. 
The husbands of the daughters were 
not with them — one had four and 
the other five children, varying in 
age from one to eighteen years. 

" They were reduced to a starving 
condition, and the mothers com- 
menced killing and eating their 
children ! They fed voraciously upon 
the flesh of their children, and be- 
came passionately fond of it. All 
of the children were despatched and 
eaten, but one, a boy about eighteen 
years of age. 

" In the latter part of winter his 
mother called him to her, and re- 
quested him to put his head in her 
lap, under pretence of desiring to 
look for vermin, as is the custom 
among the Indians. The boy com- 
plied. The mother had some molten 
lead at hand, which she poured into 
his ear, and killed him. His cries 
of agony alarmed the old people. 
The old man told his wife to go and 
see what was the matter. She went 
and looked into tre door of the lodge, 



and there saw the woman with the 
body of the boy on the fire, singeing 
his hair off. She said to her, ' Come 
in, and get some — it is good ;' and 
narrated to her mother how she had 
killed the boy. 

" The old woman returned, and 
informed the old man what had taken 
place. He went to the lodge with 
his gun, and shot her. He did not 
kill her immediately, but despatched 
her with an axe. Before this hap- 
pened, there were two men with 
their wives encamped in the same 
vicinity. One of the men was led 
to mistrust that they were eating the 
children, from the fact of their being 
missed, and also from the signs of 
plenty indicated by the personal ap- 
pearance of the women. He told 
the other what he suspected, and 
expressed a desire to go to some 
other place, and asked him to raise 
camp, and leave with him. 

" He agreed to leave, and request- 
ed the other to go and encamp at a 
spot named, saying that he would 
join him next day. He waited at 
the place appointed several daye, 
and ultimately moved on without 
him. The man and wife, who re- 
mained, have never been heard from. 

" A blanket, recognised as belong- 



DEBATE ON SCHOOL LANDS. 553 

A spirited debate occurred on February sixth, 1851, 
in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
previous to the passage of the bill granting two town- 
ships of land for the use and support of a University hi 
Oregon and Minnesota, and authorizing the legislatures 
of those territories to make necessary laws to protect 
the school sections. 

The bill before the House also granted to Oregon and 
Minnesota the privilege of leasing their school lands for 
four years before they were sold. 

Mr. Bowlin, of Missouri, chairman of the committee 
on public lands, moved that all relating to the leasing 
of the lands should be stricken out. Mr. Sibley, in 
reply, contended that the provision in the bill was 
almost an exact transcript of acts that had been passed 
in relation to Michigan and Wisconsin. 

The second section of the bill provided, that when a 
bond fide settlement was made on any school sections 
previous to survey, that the settler should have the 
right to enter the land. 

Mr. Wentworth, of Illinois, was opposed to touching 
the school lands. He remarked : — 

"When a man squats upon the school lands, there 
is a higher law that takes him off. So far as I am con- 
cerned, whenever a territorial bill comes up here con- 
taining a provision in relation to school lands similar to 
that contained in this, I shall feel compelled to oppose 
it. I would leave the matter to the townships. If 

ing to them, was found near the winter, and finding out what had 

place. It is supposed that they met been done with his children, killed 

the same fate as the children. his wife with his knife and toma- 

" The husband of the surviving hawk. The old people, and the man 

woman returned to his lodge, at who killed his wife, returned to 

Itasca Lake, in the latter part of Leech Lake, where they now are." 



554 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

when the townships are organized they choose to let 
men squat on their school lands, it is their business, not 
the business of Congress. I remember well, that in 
order to encourage education in the Territory of Min- 
nespta, we gave them another section, twice as much as 
other states have received; and now they come here 
and ask us to give settlers the privilege of squatting on 
those lands. I should have been willing to have given 
them twice as much land as they have received for 
school purposes; but I would not have voted to give 
them any, if I had thought squatters should settle on 
the lands before they were surveyed." 

Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, moved to strike out 
the word "Minnesota" from the section. He said: — 

" I make this motion, for the purpose of destroying 
the section. I understand the law to be, that any man 
who squats upon the public land, in any of the new 
states or territories, before it is surveyed, is entitled to 
no pre-emption right. He is a wrongdoer, a trespasser. 
But if he settles down after the land is surveyed, he 
gets his pre-emption right. This section proposes to 
give to this wrongdoer a right to take possession of the 
lands devoted to sacred charity, if I may call it charity, 
for school purposes. * * * * I believe there is no 
law which gives a right of pre-emption to settlers upon 
unsurveyed lands. I may be wrong in this." 

Mr. Fitch — "You are decidedly wrong." 

Mr. Stevens — "I am informed by a gentleman be- 
hind me, who, I believe, is right, that there is no law 
which gives a right to unsurveyed land but the ' higher 
law,' which the gentleman from Minnesota speaks of, 
the law of the bowie-knife. Now, I think that we 
ought not to recognise that kind of higher law at any 



MR. SIBLEY ON THE HIGHER LAW. 555 

rate. If we are to recognise a higher law above, we 
are not at any rate to recognise a higher law below. I 
cannot go for that. I hope the whole bill will be killed." 

Mr. Sibley, in reply, said : — 

" That the ' higher law' to which he had referred was 
not any law of violence, nor that of the bowie knife, as 
stated by the gentleman from Pennsylvania, nor a law 
from below, but the law of public opinion, of public 
sentiment ; a higher law which he believed existed else- 
where in this country as well as in Minnesota." 

Mr. Stevens's motion prevailed. Mr. Bowlin of Mis- 
souri moved to strike out all in the bill relative to the 
leasing of the lands, which was agreed to, and the bill 
passed in a modified form. 

In the winter of 1851, the publication of the " Chroni- 
cle and Register " ceased. 

About the middle of May a war party of Dahkotahs 
discovered near Swan river an Ojibway with a keg of 
whiskey. The latter escaped with the loss of his keg. 
The war party, drinking the contents, became intoxi- 
cated, and, firing upon some teamsters they met driving 
their wagons with goods to the Indian Agency, killed 
one of them, Andrew Swartz, a resident of St. Paul. 
The news was conveyed to Fort Ripley, and a party 
of soldiers, with Hole-in-the-Day as a guide, started in 
pursuit of the murderers, but did not succeed in captur- 
ing them. Through the influence of Little Six, the Dah- 
kotah chief, whose village was at, and named after him, 
Shokpay, five of the offenders were arrested and placed 
in the guard-house at Fort Snelling. On Monday, June 
ninth, they left the fort in a wagon guarded by twenty- 
five dragoons, destined for Sauk Rapids for trial. As 
they departed they all sung their death song, and the 



556 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

coarse soldiers amused themselves by making signs that 
they were going to be hung. On the first evening of 
the journey the five culprits encamped with the twenty- 
five dragoons. Handcuffed, they were placed in the 
tent, and yet at midnight they all escaped, only one 
being wounded by the guard. What was more remark- 
able, the wounded man was the first to bring the news 
to St. Paul. Proceeding to Kaposia, his wound was 
examined by Dr. Williamson, and then fearing an 
arrest, he took a canoe and paddled up the Minnesota. 
The excuse offered by the dragoons was, that all the 
guard but one fell asleep. Had they lived in ancient 
Rome they would all have slept the sleep of death for 
their negligence. 

The first paper published in Minnesota, beyond the 
capital, was the St. Anthony Express, which made its 
appearance during the last week of May. 

The most important event of the year 1851 was the 
treaty with the Dahkotahs, by which the west side of 
the Mississippi and the valley of the Minnesota river 
were opened to the enterprise of the hardy emigrant. 
The commissioners on the part of the United States 
were Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and 
Governor Ramsey. The place of meeting for the 
upper bands was Traverse des Sioux. The commis- 
sion arrived there on the last of June, but were obliged 
to wait many days for the assembling of the various 
bands of Dahkotahs. 

Steps had been taken for the observance of the fourth 
of July, by those associated with the commissioners, but 
that day proved to be one of sadness. Mr. Goodhue, 
who was on the spot, writes to the " Pioneer," of which 
he was the editor : — 



REV. MR. HOPKINS' DEATH BY DROWNING. 557 

" Instead of the joyous festivities we had this day 
anticipated, the sudden death, by drowning, this morn- 
ing, before breakfast, of the Rev. Mr. Hopkins, resident 
missionary here, has thrown over our whole encampment 
a shadow of gloom. A multitude of men and women 
of both races ran to the spot to search the water for his 
body. His clothes were found upon the bank of the 
river, or, rather, the bank of a slough, near the bed of 
a pretty strong current of water. A little Indian girl 
says she saw him wading breast deep toward shore, and 
that looking again, after filling her pail with water, she 
saw only his hands above water. As he could not swim, 
he was, doubtless, drowned by wading into a deep hole. 
Search has been made all day with nets and hooks, and 
by Indians diving, but, as yet, in vain. Mr. Hopkins was 
a good man, and left a most amiable wife, and four 
children." Under date of July seventh, he writes : — 
" Suddenly, news arrives in camp that the body of the 
lamented Mr. Hopkins is caught in a drag-net; and, 
instantly, the most of our company, and hundreds of 
Indians, are running from all directions to the spot. 
The body being washed was removed to the mission- 
house, amid much silent grief, while a very aged squaw 
indulged in piteous lamentations, which affected every 
listener, saying, 6 He was my son ; he was very kind to 
me ; he provided for me when I was hungry and needy.' 
This afternoon we are engaged in the mournful duty of 
burying this good man, who, buried in the seclusion of 
savage life, spent the flower of his days in a work as 
disinterested as that which made Howard immortal." 

For several days there had been violent rains and 
thunderstorms, and the Dahkotahs supposed that the 
Great Thunder Bird had dashed his wing upon the head 



558 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

of the Blue Earth river, and broken up fountains which 
had caused the rise in the waters. One day there 
was a propitiatory dance to Wahkeenyan, the God of 
Thunder. 

On the afternoon of July twelfth the dance was com- 
menced. The spot selected was nearly a half mile from 
the river bank. The commissioners and their party, 
and perhaps one thousand Dahkotahs, were present. 
The dance was performed within a circular enclosure 
made of the limbs of the aspen stuck in the ground, 
interwoven with four arched gateways, forming an area 
like a large circus. A pole was planted in the middle 
of the area, with an image cut out of bark, designed to 
represent the Thunder Bird, suspended by a string at the 
top. At each of the arched gateways stood another 
pole and image of the same description, but smaller 
than the one in the centre. Near the foot of the cen- 
tral pole was a little arbour of aspen bushes, in which 
sat an ugly-looking Indian with his face blackened, and 
a wig of green grass over his head, who acted as sorcerer, 
and uttered incantations with fervent unction, and beat 
the drum, and played on the Indian flute, and sung by 
turns, to regulate the various evolutions of the dance. 
Before this arbour, at the foot of the central pole, were 
various mystical emblems ; the image of a running buf- 
falo cut out of bark, with his legs stuck in the ground, 
also a pipe and a red stone shaped something like a head, 
with some coloured down. At a given signal by the 
conjurer, the young men sprang in through the gate- 
ways, and commenced a circular dance in procession 
around the conjurer, who continued to sing and beat 
his drum. After fifteen or twenty minutes, the dancers 
ran out of the ring, returning after a short respite. The 



THUNDER BIRD CEREMONIES. 559 

third time a few horsemen, in very gay fantastic costume, 
accompanied the procession of dancers who were within, 
by riding outside of the enclosure. The last time a 
multitude of boys and girls joined the band of dancers 
in the area, and many more horsemen joined the caval- 
cade that rode around the area, some dressed in blue 
embroidered blankets, others in white. Suddenly seve- 
ral rifles were discharged at the poles upon which th( 
Thunder Birds were suspended, knocking them down, 
and the sacred dance ended. 

On the eighteenth of July, all those expected having 
arrived, the Sissetoans and Wahpaytoan Dahkotahs as- 
sembled in grand council with the United States com- 
missioners. After the usual feastings and speeches, a 
treaty was concluded on Wednesday, July twenty-third. 
The pipe having been smoked by the commissioners, 
Lea and Kamsey, it was passed to the chiefs. The 

1 The treaty is in substance as ten miles on each side to Lac Tra- 

follows : — verse. 

Perpetual peace. The Indians are to receive 

The cession of all the Sioux lands $1,665,000, as follows : 

east of Sioux river and Lac Traverse. To be paid after their removal to 

The line then runs up the head the reservation, $275,000, and 

waters of Otter Tail Lake, thence To be expended in breaking land, 

down from the headofWatab river erecting mills, and establishing 

to the Mississippi. manual labour schools, $30,000, 

The cession embraces the entire amounting to $305,000. 
valley of the Minnesota, and the The balance of $1,360,000 to be in- 
eastern tributaries of the Sioux vested at five per cent, for fifty years, 
river, and is estimated to contain which will give an annual income 
21,000,000 acres. of $68,000, to be paid as follows : 

The Indians reserve a tract on In cash, annually $40,000 

the Minnesota, about one hundred Goods and provisions, 10,000 

miles in length, and twenty in Civilization fund, 12,000 

breadth. This reserve commences Education, 6,000 

at the mouth of Yellow Medicine 

river, and extends up the Minnesota 68,000 



560 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

paper containing the treaty * was then read in English, 
and translated into the Dahkotah by the Rev. S. R. 
Riggs. This finished, the chiefs came up to the secre- 
tary's table and touched the pen ; the white men pre- 
sent then witnessed the document, and nothing remained 
but the ratification of the United States Senate to open 
that vast country for the residence of the hardy emi- 
grant. 

During the first week in August, a treaty was also 
concluded beneath an oak bower, on Pilot Knob, Men- 
dota, with the M'dewakantonwan and Wahpaykootay 
bands of Dahkotahs. About sixty of the chiefs and 
principal men touched the pen, and Little Crow, who 
had been in the mission-school at Lac qui Parle, signed 
his own name. Before they separated, Colonel Lea and 
Governor Ramsey gave them a few words of advice on 
various subjects connected with their future well-being, 
but particularly on the subject of education and tempe- 
rance. The treaty was interpreted to them by the Rev. 
G. H. Pond, a gentleman universally conceded to be the 
most correct speaker of the Dahkotah tongue of any 
who are not natives. 

The day after the treaty these lower bands received 
thirty thousand dollars, which, by the treaty of 1837, 
was set apart for education ; but, by the misrepresenta- 
tions of interested half-breeds, the Indians were made 
to believe that it ought to be given to them to be em- 
ployed as they pleased. 

The next week, with their sacks filled with money, 

After fifty years all payments to relates to the introduction and sale 

cease, and the principal of $1,360,000 of ardent spirits, shall be continued 

to revert to the government. in full force, until changed by legal 

The intercourse laws, so far as authority. 



INDIANS AT THE HORSE MARKET. 561 

they thronged the streets of St. Paul, purchasing what- 
ever pleased their fancy. Many desired horses. Now 
an Indian always purchases a horse on a different prin- 
ciple from a white man. If he desires a white horse, 
all other considerations are secondary. He may be 
awkward in gait, or slow in motion ; these are all out- 
weighed by the colour that he desires. Another one 
will want a long-tailed horse, and, if such an animal 
can be found, but few questions are asked in relation to 
his age or freedom from trick. The week subsequent to 
the treaty there was a general clearing out of worn-out 
nags from the livery stables of the capital ; and, when 
the cavalcade started for the Indian country, in John 
Gilpin style, it was a scene to excite the laughter of a 
stoic. Many departed empty-handed, and, if they had 
not given a kingdom, had given their all for a horse that 
would die, under Indian treatment and grooming, in a 
few months. 1 

1 By the treaty signed at Mendota, expenses of their removal, and settle 

August fifth, the above-named bands their affairs generally, 

ceded to the United States all their In opening farms, erecting mills, 

lands in Minnesota and Iowa. smith-shops, and school-houses, is to 

A reserve is granted them on the be expended thirty thousand dollars. 

Minnesota river, commencing at In annuities to be continued fifty 

Little Rock, which is about fifty years : 

miles by land from Traverse des In agricultural fund . $12,000 

Sioux, and extending up the river In goods and provisions 10,000 

ten miles wide on each side to Yel- In education .... 6,000 

low Medicine and Chatanba rivers, In cash 30,000 

to which they are to remove within By the two treaties concluded be- 

one year after the ratification of the tween the United States and four 

treaty. divisions of the Dahkotah tribe, 

On the ratification of the treaty, about thirty millions of acres of 

the chiefs were paid the sum of two land have been added to the posses- 

nundred and twenty thousand dol- sions of the United States, and most 

lars, to be used by them in the pur- of it is in Minnesota. Much of it is 

chase of provisions, to defray the of an excellent quality, well tim- 
36 



562 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

A few days before the treaties, one of the Dahkotah 
missionaries at Shokpay's village, now a flourishing 
town, the county seat of Scott county, writes : — 

" Our situation is in many respects unpleasant. We 
have no persons residing with us, and no white neigh- 
bours within sixteen miles. This is much the largest 
band of the Dahkotah s, on the Minnesota or Mississippi, 
and they all dwell within a hundred rods of our door, 
some of them much nearer. We have great reason to 
be thankful for the degree of peace and security we 
enjoy whilst living in the midst of so many savages ; 
but we are continually annoyed in a thousand ways. 
They are almost universally thieves and beggars ; and, 
though we endeavour to have as little property exposed 
as possible, we are obliged to be continually on the 
watch. My wife has been only a mile from home in 
three years, and, when the Indians are here, I seldom 
go out of sight of the house, unless I am obliged to do 
so. Few days pass in which they do not commit some 
depredation. I do not mention these things by way of 
complaint. We are annoyed much less than we might 
reasonably expect in such circumstances ; and we should 
feel contented and cheerful in our situation, if the In- 
dians would only listen to the gospel of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ." 

On the seventeenth of September, a new paper was 
commenced in St. Paul, under the auspices of the 
"Whigs," and John P. Owens became editor, which 
relation he sustained until the fall of 1857. 

The election for members of the legislature and 

be'red and well watered. It is an the rocks and hills. Here is room 
inviting country to cramped-up New enough, a rich soil, and healthy 
England farmers, who dig among climate. 



FIRST DEMOCRATIC TICKET. 



563 



county officers occurred on the fourteenth of October*, 
and, for the first time, a regular Democratic ticket was 
placed before the people. The parties called themselves 
Democratic and Anti-organization, or Coalition. 

In the month of November Jerome Fuller arrived, 
and took the place of Judge Goodrich as Chief Justice 
of Minnesota; and, about the same time, Alexander 
Wilkin was appointed secretary of the territory in place 
of C. K. Smith. 

The eighteenth of December, pursuant to proclama- 
tion, was observed as a day of thanksgiving. 1 



X A Proclamation, by Alexander Ram- 
sey, Governor of the Territory of 
Minnesota. 

" The Harvest is past, the Sum- 
mer is ended ;" the corn and the 
wheat that stood thick upon our 
fruitful soil, have been " gathered 
into the garner." Once more, "cold 
out of the North" has come ; " frost 
is given, and the breadth of the wa- 
ters is straitened." Before the year 
closes, it seems a becoming act for 
the people of Minnesota, by public 
assembly and solemn observance, to 
unite in giving thanks to Him " who 
crowneth the year with goodness," 
and whose blessings " are more in 
number than the sand." 



In accordance, therefore, with a 
time-honoured, and now general cus- 
tom of the states of the Republic, I 
respectfully recommend to the peo- 
ple of this territory the observ- 
ance, in the way that to them is 
most appropriate, of Thursday, the 
eighteenth day of December, as a 
day of Praise and Thanksgiving. 

Given under my hand, and the 
r -I great seal of the Territory, 
L ' J at St. Paul, this third day of 
December, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand eight hundred and 
fifty-one. 

Alex. Ramsey. 
By the Governor: 

Alexander Wilkin, Secretary, 



564 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

The third Legislative Assembly commenced its ses- 
sions in one of the edifices on Third below Jackson 
street, which now forms a portion of the Merchants' 
Hotel, on the seventh of January, 1852. 1 



* Councillors. 


No. of District. Residence. 


Occupation. 


Elam Greeley, . . 


. . 1 


. Near Stillwater. 




I). B. Loomis, . . 


. 1 


Marine, .... 


Lumber Merchant 


G. W. Farrington, 


. . 2 


. St. Paul 


Merchant. 


William H. Forbes, 


. 2 


(< 


Indian Trader. 


W. L. Lamed, 


. . 3 


, St. Anthony. 




L. A. Babcock, . . 


. 4 


St. Paul, .... 


Lawyer. 


S. B. Lowry, . . . 


. 5 


Watab, 


Indian Trader. 


Martin McLeod, . . 


. 6 


Oak Grove, . . . 


Indian Trader. 


N. W. Kittson, . . 


. 7 


Pembina, .... 


Indian Trader. 


Representatives. 








Mahlon Leavitt, . 


. 1 


. Stillwater, .... 


Lumber Dealer. 


Mahlon Black, . , 


. 1 


«< 


Lumber Dealer. 


Jesse Taylor, . . . 


. 1 


" 




John D. Ludden, . 


. 1 


Marine, .... 


Lumber Dealer. 


Charles S. Cave, . 


. 2 


St. Paul, .... 


Saloon Keeper. 


W. P. Murray, . 


. 2 


a 


Lawyer. 


S. D. Findlay, . . 


. 2 


Near Fort Snelling, 


Indian Trader. 


J. W. Selby, . . 


. 2 


St. Paul, .... 


Farmer. 


J. E. Fullerton, . 


. 2 


<« 


Merchant. 


S. W. Farnham, . 


. 3 


St. Anthony, . . . 


Lumberman. 


J. H. Murphy, . 


. . 3 


a 


Physician. 


F. S. Richards, . 


. . 4 


. Lake Pepin, . . . 


Trader. 



ST. PETER'S DISCONTINUED IN PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 565 

This session, compared with the previous, formed a 
contrast as great as that between a boisterous day in 
March and a calm June morning. The minds of the 
population were more deeply interested in the ratifica- 
tion of the treaties made with the Dahkotahs, than in 
political discussions. Among other legislation of interest 
was the creation of Hennepin county, the passage of an 
act punishing trespassers on school lands, and the post- 
ponement of the election of delegate to Congress until 
October, 1853. An important liquor law was also 
passed, subject to a vote of the people, similar in its 
provisions to what is known as the Maine Liquor Law. 
The election was ordered to be held on the first Monday 
of April, and if the majority of citizens were in favour, 
it was to be in force after the first of May. 

Among the memorials to the Congress of the United 
States, was one relative to the name of the Minnesota 
river. Ever since the acquisition of this country by 
the United States, it had been called the St. Pierre by 
the French voyageurs, and Anglicized by the Americans 
into St. Peter's. The memorial states that the stream 
was named after Mons. St. Pierre, who was never in 
this country, which is incorrect. It then asserts " that 
Minnesota is the true name of this stream, as given to 
it in ages past, by the strong and powerful tribes of 



Representatives. 


No. of District. Residence. 


Occupation. 


James Beatty, 


. . 5 . Itasca, . . . 


. . Farmer. 


David Day, . . . 


. . 5 . Long Prairie, 


. . Physician 


James McBoal, . 


. . 6 . Mendota, . . 


. . Painter. 


B. H. Randall, . 


. . 6 . Fort Snelling, 


. Clerk. 


Juseph Rolette, . 


. . 7 . Pembina, . . 


. . Clerk. 


Antoine Gingras, . 


. . 7 . 


. . Hunter. 



566 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

aborigines, the Dahkotahs, who dwelt upon its banks, 
and, that not only to assimilate the name of the river 
with that of the territory and future state of Minnesota, 
but to follow what we conceive to be the dictates of a 
correct taste, and to show a proper regard for the 
memory of the great nation whose homes and country 
our people are soon to possess, we desire that it should 
be so designated." The memorial was considered by the 
Senate, and a law passed ordering the word St. Peter's 
to be discontinued in public documents, and Minnesota 
employed in its place. 

The first report of the Superintendent of Public 
Instruction was presented at this session. As a portion 
of it may be interesting to the future educators of the 
state, we insert extracts. 

" Owing to the rapid increase of population in dis- 
tricts Nos. 2 and 3, in the county of Ramsey, the pre- 
sent school accommodations have proved wholly inade- 
quate. About the close of the past year, it became 
necessary for the trustees of each district to rent a 
room and employ a female assistant teacher to instruct 
the less advanced pupils. 

" Before another year elapses, it may be found that 
the present school-houses in Stillwater, St. Anthony, 
and St. Paul, are too contracted ; but it is hoped that 
there will be no unnecessary multiplication of school 
districts in these towns. The money necessary to build 
two small school-houses in different parts of a town, can 
be much more advantageously employed in erecting a 
single edifice upon some central and commanding site, 
containing several rooms. 

"In this way, a town not only secures a building 



REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF INSTRUCTION. 567 

that is attractive to the sight, but, by employing a male 
principal, with a female assistant or assistants, consi- 
derably reduces the expenses of education. 

" As there are already towns that have more than 
one district, your attention is called to the propriety 
of introducing a section in the school law, allowing pri- 
mary school districts in the same town, the privilege of 
establishing a grammar school for the older and more 
advanced children of their several districts. 

•• And in this connexion it may be well to suggest the 
repeal of all laws granting to school districts the power 
of conferring degrees or granting diplomas. To grant 
such high powers to the trustees of a common school 
district, who are elected annually, not by those who feel 
a lively interest in education, but ' by ever}' inhabitant 
over the age of twenty-one years, who shall have resided 
in any school district for three months immediately pre- 
ceding any district meeting, and who shall have paid, 
or shall be liable to pay, any taxes, except road taxes,' 
is to degrade education, and burlesque the University 
of Minnesota, to whose regents such powers more pro- 
perly belong. 

" The buildings that have been erected for school pur- 
poses are far in advance of the log huts that were for- 
merly erected by pioneer settlers, as school-rooms for 
their ' little ones,' and which even the cows of the 
farmer might blush to own as their resting place. 

" In saying this, however, it is not to be understood 
that they can receive no improvement. Nearly all, like 
the barns, remain unpainted, and are destitute of all 
those surrounding conveniences which are so necessarv 
to cultivate neat and modest habits in youth. The 



568 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

trustees have, in almost every instance, neglected to 
plant shade and ornamental trees, and, unless some care 
is shown, it will not be long before the school-houses 
will look as dilapidated as the drunkard's dwelling. 

" It is strange that ' fathers who know how to give 
good gifts to their children,' almost invariably neglect 
to furnish their offspring with a school-house that is cal- 
culated to make the associations with their studies plea- 
sant, or to teach them the principles of correct architec- 
ture, or give them a single idea of beauty. 

" ' Barnard's School Architecture' is a book that a 
trifling sum will purchase, and, in the erection of school- 
houses in our new settlements and villages, it is desir- 
able that the trustees should follow some of the plans 
there detailed. It is, therefore, suggested that the trus- 
tees of each school district purchase a copy for the 
school library. Before we pass from the subject of 
school architecture, it is proper to call your attention 
to the importance of trustees securing larger lots for 
school buildings. 

" One of the largest school lots in the territory is that 
of district No.' 5, in Bamsey county, and yet the build- 
ing appears to be squeezed into the back ground by the 
pressure of a building on each side. 

" To make a full man, the boy must be developed 
physically as well as intellectually; and the village 
which would have its youth prosper most in school 
hours, should take care in this new country, where land 
is not held at an exorbitant price, that the school-house 
be situated in the centre of at least an acre lot. No- 
thing raises a population so much in the estimation of a 
traveller or emigrant, as to see a crowd of boys issuing 



SCHOOL TEACHERS.— SCHOOL-HOUSES. 



569 



from a pleasant school-house, to play during the recess 
upon a capacious lawn. 1 

"The vocation of teacher is a noble one. He is far 
from being a drone in society, but is eminently one of 
the class of producers. His duties are such as often to 
require ' an angel's wisdom ;' 

" For he does the work 
Deputed by the parent, still uncheered 
By that rich filial love, whose magic makes 
All burdens light." 

" In many states he is forbidden the social position to 
which, if competent, he is entitled, and looked upon as 
a servant, rather than an equal, and therefore receives 
but a servant's wages. 



1 Table representing the condition of School Districts in the Territory of 
Minnesota, January, 1852. 





School-House — by 
whom owned. 


When built. 


Cost, 


Dimensions. 


Size of Lot. 


Washington Co. 












Point Douglas, 
Cottage Grove, 


Priv. property 






16 by 18 ft. 




[No school building 
erected, or school 
kept.] 












Stillwater, 
Mariue Mills, 


District 
do. 


1848 
now building 




20 by 30 ft. 
20 by 30 ft. 


50 by 150 ft. 
75 by 150 ft. 


Benton County. 












[No returns received.] 












Ramsey County. 












District, No. 1. 
St. Paul, " 2. 

do. " 3. 

do. « 4. 


District 

Priv. individual 

[No returns.] 


1850 
1848 


$600 
$400 


18 by 36 ft. 
20 by 24 ft. 


50 by 150 ft. 


St. Anthony, " 5. 

do. ' " 6. 

District " 7. 

do. " 8. 


District 

None 

[No returns.] 


1849 


$600 


24 by 34 ft. 


l-4th acre. 



570 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

'" Immediately after the organization of our school dis- 
tricts, the ground was taken by the friends of education, 
that so valuable a member of society as the faithful 
teacher should receive at least the wages of an ordinary 
day labourer. " 

On Saturday, the fourteenth of February, a dog-train 
arrived at St. Paul from the north, with the dis- 
tinguished Arctic explorer, Dr. Ray. He had been in 
search of the long-missing Sir John Franklin, by way 
of the Mackenzie river, and was now on his way to 
England. 

During the same month, Captain Simpson, of the 
Corps of Topographical Engineers, United States Army, 
made the first reconnoissance of the country between 
Watab and the Winnebago Agency at Long Prairie. 
One of the party gives a sketch of the exploration in 
the Minnesota Pioneer : — 

" Securing for guides the noted old Ojibway, of Crow 
Wing, White Fisher, and a half-breed, Johnson, the 
party and guides started from Sauk Rapids, on Monday, 
February second. On the next Thursday evening they 
camped on a little branch of Two Rivers. The next 
Friday, the fifth day out, came into a high maple region, 
and one large marsh, which they crossed on the ice; 
but on examination, discovered where two points of 
high timber ground approximated each other; and here 
one hundred and fifty feet of log-way might be neces- 
sary. After this, it was all maple high land until they 
camped. 

" The next day, Saturday, they only proceeded three 
miles, crossing one little stream, and encamped at the 
Birch Bark Fort Lake, on a singular neck of land be- 
tween the lake and a succession of marshes extending 



COUNTRY BETWEEN WATAB AND LONG PRAIRIE. 571 

far to the northward. Here they remained until Tues- 
day, one of the number returning to Sauk Rapids with 
the team for further supplies. They found here a camp 
of ten lodges of Chippewas, who were living fat on 
plenty of white fish, and a bear they had just killed. 
The country on this part of the route seemed alive with 
game — deer tracks and other tracks in every direction. 
So far from the Winnebago country being destitute of 
game, it is full of it; but the tribe are too indolent to 
hunt it. Birch Bark Fort they calculated was from 
twenty to twenty-four miles from the Rapids; while it 
was about fifteen miles further to the Agency. It is a 
noted Indian pass — the remains of two war forts con- 
structed of birch trees being seen in the vicinity. One 
was erected a great many years ago by the Sioux ; and 
the other more recently by Strong Ground, the brother 
of old Hole-in-the-Day. 

" Starting again on Tuesday, their route that day was 
over high rolling dry land, all the way, with occasion- 
ally a little run to cross ; they made but six miles and 
camped. The next day, Wednesday, the route con- 
tinued good — only meeting one place, where log-waying, 
about one hundred feet, will be required. They now 
came to a magnificent and beautiful sheet of water, 
some fifteen miles in length, and five or six wide, the 
northern shore rising almost into mountainous height; 
the water clear and transparent, and abounding in 
luscious white-fish; and beautified by several islands 
with bluff shores, one of them booming mountain-like 
out of the water more than one hundred feet ; and all 
wooded to the tops with red cedar. The only name the 
Chippewas have for this fine lake, is 'The Lake where 
there is Red Cedar;' but there being a dozen lakes of this 



572 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

name, besides the great Red Cedar Lake up the Missis- 
sippi, this amounts to no distinctive name at all ; and 
we have, therefore, called it Neill's Lake, in honour of 
the Rev. Edward D. Neill, of St. Paul, Territorial 
Superintendent of Common Schools. A large unnamed 
lake, with islands in it, which is, perhaps, intended to 
represent Neill's Lake, is set down in Nicollet's map 
(from reports of Indians merely — he never was there), 
as discharging its water into the Watab river. This is 
discovered to be an error. It really empties into Sauk 
river. 

" The party passed to the northward of Neill's Lake. 
The next day, Thursday, they found small, open, dry 
prairies, for four miles before reaching the south-east 
corner of Round Prairie, and thence continuing north- 
ward, they arrived without further difficulty at the 
Agency." 

The election on the first Monday in April for the 
approval or rejection of the Liquor Law interested all 
classes of citizens. It w^as a theme of conversation with 
mothers and daughters, and the subject of discourses in 
the pulpits of both the Protestant and Roman' Catholic 
clergy, all heartily co-operating. When it was disco- 
vered that Ramsey county had voted in favour of the 
law, all the church bells at the capital about nine 
o'clock at night, rang a simultaneous peal of joy. 1 

Before the ratification of the treaties with the Dah- 
kotahs, impatient pioneers had gone in and possessed 
the land. Among the earlier settlements commenced 

1 The Vote on the Liquor Law : — 

Counties. For. Atrah'st. Counties. For. Against. 

Ramsey, .... 528 496 Chisago, .... 13 3 

Washington, ... 218 68 Benton and Cass, . 62 91 

Dahkotah, ... 32 4 

853 662 



ROLLING STONE COLONY.— LAND SLIDE. 573 

on the Minnesota, were those of Mahkahto, Traverse 
des Sioux, Kasota, Louisville, and Shokpay. A pioneer, 
bv the name of Mackenzie, had a claim on Eden Prairie, 
and near bv, on a lake in the woods, were other claim- 
ants. The first settlement of any magnitude, on the west 
bank of the Mississippi, was made on Boiling Stone Creek, 
just above Winona. The colony was from New York 
city and vicinity. Inexperienced in frontier life, with 
theoretical rather than practical views, many of them 
shrunk from the hardships which every pioneer must 
endure, others sickened and died, and what was begun 
in so much hope soon dwindled away. The place for 
the town was not judiciously selected, though the name, 
" Rolling Stone," in view of the results, was not wholly 
insignificant. 

On the fourteenth of May, an interesting lusus naturae 
occurred at Stillwater. On the prairies, beyond the ele- 
vated bluffs which encircle the business portion of the 
town, there is a lake which discharges its waters through 
a ravine, and supplies McKusick's Mill. Owing to heavy 
rains the hills became saturated with water, and the 
lake very full. Before daylight the citizens heard the 
" voice of many waters," and looking out, saw rushing 
down through the ravine, trees, gravel, and diluvium. 
Nothing impeded its course, and as it issued from the 
ravine it spread over the town site, covering up barns 
and small tenements, and continuing to the lake shore, it 
materially improved the landing, by a deposit of many 
tons of earth. One of the editors of the day, alluding 
to the fact, quaintly remarked, that " it was a very 
extraordinary movement of real estate." 

During the summer, Elijah Terry, a young man who 
had left St. Paul the previous March, and gone to 



574 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Pembina, to act as teacher to the mixed bloods in that 
vicinity, was murdered under distressing circumstances. 
With a bois brule he had started to the woods on the 
morning of his death, to hew timber. While there he 
was fired upon by a small party of Dahkotahs ; a ball 
broke his arm, and he was pierced with arrows. His 
scalp was wrenched from his head, and was afterwards 
seen among Sissetoan Dahkotahs, near Big Stone Lake. 

About the last of August, the pioneer editor of 
Minnesota, James M. Goodhue, died. The deceased 
was born in Hebron, N. H., March thirty-first, 1810. 
His parents possessed the strong faith and stern virtue 
of the Puritans, and felt that an education was the 
greatest treasure they could give their children. After 
passing through preparatory studies, he entered Amherst 
College, where he listened to the lectures of the distin- 
guished geologist, Hitchcock, and other devout men of 
science. In the year 1832, he received a diploma from 
that institution. It was his desire to have attended a 
meeting of his surviving classmates in the halls of his 
" Alma Mater ;" but another summons came to take 
" his chamber in the silent halls of death." 

Having studied law, he entered upon the practice of 
the profession. He became an editor unexpectedly to 
himself. Having been invited to take the oversight of 
a press, in the lead region of Wisconsin, during the 
temporary absence of its conductor, he discovered that 
he increased the interest of the readers in the paper. 
From that time he began to pay less attention to the 
legal profession, and was soon known among the citizens 
of the mines as the editor of the Grant County Herald, 
published at Lancaster, Wisconsin. While residing at 
this place, he became interested in the territory "of 



SKETCH OF JAMES M. GOODHUE. 575 

sky-tinted waters" (Minnesota). With the independ- 
ence and temerity of one Benjamin Franklin, he left 
Lancaster as suddenly as the ostensible editor of the 
New England Courant left Boston, and he arrived at 
the landing of what is now the capital of Minnesota, 
with little more money and few more friends than the 
young printer who landed at Market street wharf, in 
the capital of the then youthful territory of Penn 
sylvania. 

In April, 1849, he found St. Paul nothing more than 
a frontier Indian trading settlement, known by the 
savages as the place where they could obtain Minne 
Wakan, or whiskey, and wholly unknown to the civil- 
ized world. When he died, with the sword of his pen 
he had carved a name and reputation for St. Paul, and 
he lived long enough to hear men think aloud and say, 
that the day was coming when school-boys would learn 
from their geography that the third city in commercial 
importance, on the banks of the mighty Mississippi, was 
St. Paul. His most bitter opponents were convinced, 
whatever might be his course towards them, that he 
loved Minnesota with all his heart, all his mind, and 
all his might. 

When, in the heat of partisan warfare, all the quali- 
ties of his mind were combined to defeat certain mea- 
sures, the columns of his paper were like a terrific storm 
in midsummer amid the Alps. One sentence would be 
like the dazzling arrowy lightning, peeling in a moment 
the mountain oak, and riving from the topmost branch 
to the deepest root; the next like a crash of awful 
thunder ; and the next like the stunning roar of a tor- 
rent of many waters. 

The contrarieties of his character often increased his 



576 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



force. Imagining his foes to be Cossacks, he often dashed 
among them with all the recklessness of Murat. The 
fantastic magnificence of his pen, when in those moods, 
was as appalling in its temerity as the white ostrich 
feather and glittering gold band of Napoleon's famed 
marshal. 

His prejudice was inveterate against sham and clap- 
trap. He refused to publish many of the miserable 
advertisements of those quacks, who seek to palm off 
their nostrums upon young men, diseased through their 
own vices. When a " stroller" for a living, or a self- 
dubbed professor, came to town, he sported with him as 
the Philistines with blind Samson. By sarcasm and 
ridicule, " Jarley, with his wax works," was made to 
decamp. 1 



1 His love for a joke frequently 
led him to sacrifice truth. In his 
paper of February twentieth, 1850, 
with all gravity he has a paragraph, 
headed Singular Petrifaction, and 
adds, that " at*the mouth of Crow 
River there are several petrifactions 
in the shape of men and horses." A 
man in St. Louis about establishing 
a museum, saw the paragraph, and 
wrote a letter to the editor. The 
letter appeared in the paper of May 
16th, with an editorial, entitled 
" Stone Cavalry Wanted." 

" We have received the following 
letter from a gentleman in St. 
Louis. In answer to it, we can only 
say, that it is generally understood 
here in St. Paul, that the secre- 
tary of the territory had all the 
petrifactions in question (four horses 
and riders, beside a few fragments), 
raised at the expense of the trea- 



sury, and put in a small new stable, 
erected for the purpose, in the rear 
of the Central House, St. Paul, 
at an expense of four hundred and 
thirty-one dollars to the government, 
which has been duly audited and 
allowed in his accounts. Secretary 
C. K. Smith, who is also secretary 
of the Minnesota Historical Society, 
is now absent. On his return, a few 
weeks hence, a letter addressed to 
him on the subject, will no doubt re- 
ceive prompt attention. Crow Wing 
river is one hundred and twenty- 
eight miles above Saint Paul. To 
prompt further search for similar 
petrifactions at the mouth of the 
Crow Wing, we will now make an 
offer of fifty dollars for each sound 
petrified horse, mare, or gelding, the 
same for each perfect petrified man 
or woman, and half that price for 
ponies and children, delivered in 



STORY OF THE PETRIFIED HORSES. 



577 



When untrammelled by self-interest or party ties, his 
sentiments proved that he was a man that was often 
ready to exclaim : — 

" Video meliora proboque ; 
Deteriora sequor." 

At the November Term of the United States District 
Court, for Kamsey county, a Dahkotah, named Yu-ha- 



boxes on the bank of the river, ready 
-to be shipped down to St. Anthony, 
on the steamboat Governor Ramsey, 
in good condition. 

"St. Louis, April 27, 1850. 

" Sir: — You will, I hope, excuse the 
liberty I take of addressing this let- 
ter to you, being an entire stranger 
to you. My object in writing it is to 
inquire of you some particulars with 
respect to a notice I observed in the 
St. Louis Union of the twenty-ninth 
inst., copied from your paper, of a 
number of petrifactions, in the shape 
of men and horses, which are said 
to be at the bottom of Crow river, 
near its mouth. If not too much 
trouble, will you be good enough to 
let me know, at your earliest con- 
venience, more about the matter, 
and if there is any possibility of 
getting at them? 

" I am about establishing a museum 
in this city, and am desirous of col- 
lecting all the natural curiosities I 
can get for the same. If there are 
any specimens of fossils, minerals, 
or in fact anything in the way of 
curiosities in your neighbourhood, 
that could be sent to this city, I 
mrould pay liberally for them. 
37 



"Trusting that I may, at some 
future time, have it in my power to 
reciprocate the favour, 
I remain, dear sir, 
Yours most respectfully." 

The Philadelphia North Ameri- 
can, receiving the hoax, writes : — 

" The Crow River Petrifactions. — 
The petrified men and horses, re- 
cently discovered at the bottom of 
Crow river, Minnesota, near its 
mouth, have been housed in a build- 
ing near St. Paul, erected for the 
purpose, and are under the care of 
the territorial officers. There are 
four horses with their riders." 

Goodhue, feeling that he had car- 
ried his joke far enough, publishes 
the above paragraph in his paper of 
June twentieth, and adds : — 

"Yes ; but as oats in St. Paul are 
scarce at one dollar per bushel, the 
secretary enlisted them in the new 
company of dragoons, and they were 
shipped down on the Dr. Franklin, 
No. 2, last week, under command of 
Captain Garland, U. S. A., to hunt 
the Sacs and Foxes out of Iowa." 

And thus ended the Horse Marine 
Story. 



578 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

zee, was tried for the murder of a German woman. With 
others she was travelling above Shokpay, when a party 
of Indians, of which the prisoner was one, met them -> 
and, gathering about the wagon, were much excited. 
The prisoner punched the woman first with his gun, 
and, being threatened by one of the party, loaded 
and fired, killing the woman and wounding one of the 
men. 

On the day of his trial he was escorted from Fort 
Snelling by a company of mounted dragoons in full 
dress. It was an impressive scene to witness the poor 
Indian half hid in his blanket, in a buggy with the 
civil officer, surrounded with all the pomp and circum- 
stance of war. The jury found him guilty. On being 
asked if he had anything to say why sentence of death 
should not be passed, he replied, through the interpreter, 
that the band to which he belonged would remit their 
annuities if he could be released. To this Judge Hay- 
ner replied, that he had no authority to release him ; 
and, ordering him to rise, after some appropriate and 
impressive remarks, he pronounced the only sentence 
of death ever pronounced by a judicial officer in Min- 
nesota. The prisoner trembled while the judge spoke, 
and was a piteous spectacle. By the statute of Min- 
nesota, one convicted of murder cannot be executed 
until twelve months have elapsed, and he was confined 
until the governor of the territory should by warrant 
order his execution. 

Judge Hayner, having been appointed chief justice in 
the place of Fuller, whose nomination was not confirmed 
by the United States Senate, on an appeal of Alexis 
Cloutier, who had been fined twenty-five dollars for vio- 



JUDGE HAYNER'S DECISION ON LIQUOR LAW. 579 

lating the liquor law, decided that the legislative power 
was vested by the organic act, in the Governor and 
Legislative Assembly alone, and that they had no 
power to delegate their authority to the people ; that 
the act in question was an attempt at such transfer of 
power, and was consequently null and void. 



580 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

The fourth Legislative Assembly convened on the 
fifth of January, 1853, in the two story brick edifice at 
the corner of Third and Minnesota streets. The Council 
chose Martin McLeod as presiding officer, and the House 
Dr. David Day, Speaker. Governor Ramsey's message 
was an interesting document, and thus eloquently con- 
cluded : — 

" In concluding this my last annual message, per- 
mit me to observe that it is now a little over three years 
and six months since it was my happiness to first land 
upon the soil of Minnesota. Not far from where we 
now are a dozen framed houses, not all completed, and 
some eight or ten small log buildings, with bark roofs, 
constituted the capital of the new territory, over whose 
destiny I had been commissioned to preside. One 
county, a remnant from Wisconsin territorial organiza- 
tion, alone afforded the ordinary facilities for the execu- 
tion of the laws ; and in and around its seat of justice 
resided the bulk of our scattered population. Within 
this single county were embraced all the lands white 
men were privileged to till ; while between them and 
the broad rich hunting grounds of untutored savages, 
rolled the River of Rivers, here as majestic in its north- 



GOVERNOR RAMSEY'S LAST MESSAGE. 581 

em youth, as in its more southern maturity. Empha- 
tically new and wild appeared everything to the in 
comers from older communities ; and a not least novel 
feature of the scene was the motley humanity partially 
filling these streets — the blankets and painted faces of 
Indians, and the red sashes and moccasins of French 
voyageurs and half-breeds, greatly predominating over 
the less picturesque costume of the Anglo-American 
race. But even while strangers yet looked, the elements 
of a mighty change were working, and civilization with 
its hundred arms was commencing its resistless and 
beneficent empire. To my lot fell the honourable duty 
of taking the initial step in this work by proclaiming, 
on the first of June, 1849, the organization of the terri- 
torial government and consequent extension of the pro- 
tecting arm of law over these distant regions. Since 
that day, how impetuously have events crowded time ! 
The fabled magic of the eastern tale that renewed a 
palace in a single night, only can parallel the reality 
of growth and progress. 

" In forty-one months the few bark-roofed huts have 
been transformed into a city of thousands, in which com- 
merce rears its spacious warehouses, religion its spired 
temples, a broad capitol its swelling dome, and luxury 
and comfort, numerous ornamented and substantial 
abodes : and where nearly every avocation of life pre- 
sents its appropriate follower and representative. In 
forty-one months have condensed a whole century of 
achievements, calculated by the old world's calendar of 
progress — a government proclaimed in the wilderness, a 
judiciary organized, a legislature constituted, a compre- 
hensive code of laws digested and adopted, our popula- 
tion quintupled, cities and towns springing up on every 



582 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

hand, and steam with its revolving wings, in its season, 
daily fretting the bosom of the Mississippi, in bearing 
fresh crowds of men and merchandise within our borders. 

" Nor is that the least among the important achieve- 
ments of this brief period, which has enabled us, by 
extinguishing the Indian title to forty million acres of 
land, to overleap the Father of Waters, and plant civi- 
lization on his western shore. Broad and beautiful, by 
universal concession, are these newly acquired lands — 
the very garden spot of the north-west, as explorers 
have pronounced them — and it is scarcely surprising, 
though less than six months have elapsed since the rati- 
fication of the treaties by the Senate, that the keen-eyed 
enterprise of our race has within them already planned 
towns, built mills, opened roads, commenced farms, the 
nucleus of many a happy home. 

"But it is, however, in their initiatory stages only, 
we can consider the present growth and advancement 
of our territory in all the constituents of national and 
individual prosperity. Our brief, though energetic past, 
foreshadows but faintly the more glorious and brilliant 
destiny in store for us in the future ; nor is prophetic 
inspiration necessary to foretell it. It is written so 
plainly that he who runs may read it. It is written in 
the advantages nature has so liberally bestowed upon 
us ; by a beautiful country, unqualified by the drawback 
of much waste land, with an universally fertile soil, 
where prairies, ' that blossom as the rose,' with groves 
and woods are proportionately intermingled ; while dot- 
ting it over, in refreshing profusion, are gem-like lakes, 
and intersecting its map, at convenient distances, are 
crystal streams whose precipitous waters afford elements 
out of which to create future Lowells and Manchesters. 



FUTURE GREATNESS OF MINNESOTA. 583 

"It is written in our geographical position, in the 
centre of our continent, at the head of the Mississippi 
valley, and enfolding either bank of the great river 
with its very head springs, even as its delta is embraced 
on both sides by our sister Louisiana. It is written in 
our proximity to Superior's inland sea, and the abund- 
ant mines of rich ores possessed alike by its northern, 
as by its southern shores — mines, whose workmen it 
will be our inevitable lot to feed and clothe. 

"And it is written likewise, on a thousand features 
of interest and advantage incident to our territory ; in 
our extensive pineries, the livelihood of hardy lumber- 
men, and a future chief resource for building purposes 
of the people of the great valley below us ; in the many 
opportunities for manufacturing establishments offered 
by our magnificent water powers, and the ease with 
which the Mississippi enables us to procure the material, 
and export the products of factory labour ; in our salu- 
brious climate, insuring a healthy, hardy, and numer- 
ous population, and in the immediate advantage to our 
early growth and prosperity, which follows the expendi- 
ture of a quarter of a million of dollars annually by 
the national government, for the benefit of the Indian 
tribes in our midst. 

" That which is written is written — the life of a short 
generation will realize it. In ten years a state — in ten 
years more half a million of people, are not extravagant 
predictions. In our visions of that coming time, rise up 
in magnificent proportions, one or more capitals of the 
North, Stockholms, and St. Petersburgs, with many a 
town besides, only secondary to these in their trade, 
wealth, and enterprise. Steam on the water and steam 



584 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

on the land, everywhere, fills the ear and the sight. 
Steamboats crowd our waters, and railroads intersecting 
in every direction, interlink remotest points within and 
without our territory. The blue waters of Lake Supe- 
rior and the red-tinged floods of the Mississippi are 
united by iron bands, and a south-eastern line connects 
St. Paul direct with Lake Michigan. 

"The great New Orleans and Minnesota Railroad 
pours into its depot, somewhere on the Upper Minnesota 
river, passengers and products from the far sunny South, 
to receive in return, for ultimate ocean transit perhaps, 
furs and merchandise from the polar circle, which steam- 
boats on the Red River of the North, or a railroad on 
its banks, have just brought from Selkirk, or the plains 
of distant Athabasca. Let none deem these visions 
improbable, or their foreshadowing impracticable. Man, 
in the present age, disdains the ancient limits to his 
career; and in this country, especially, all precedents 
of human progress, growth of states, and march of 
empires, are set aside by an impetuous originality of 
action, which is at once both fact and precedent. Doubt- 
less an overruling Providence, for inscrutable purposes, 
has decreed to the American nation this quicker transi- 
tion from the wilderness of nature to the maturity of 
social enjoyments — this shorter probation between the 
bud and green tree of empire ; and it well becomes us 
therefore, in our gratulations upon present prosperity, 
and in our speculations upon greater power and happi- 
ness in the early future, to render humble, yet fervent 
thanks • unto Him who holdeth nations in the hollow 
of his hand,' and shapes out the destinies of every 
people." 

Two subjects came before the legislature affecting 



PROPOSED ALTERATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. 585- 

domestic happiness. The large majority of citizens peti-' 
tion that a liquor law might be enacted that would be 
free from the objections existing against the law of the 
previous session. A bill was proposed by the friends 
of temperance, but it failed to pass. 

During this session, an estimable citizen, the late 
Bishop Cretin, in accordance with an understanding 
with the other bishops of the Roman Catholic branch 
of the Church in this country, caused petitions to be 
presented, asking a division of the common school fund. 

Mr. Murray, from the select committee to which was 
referred sundry petitions for a change in the school law,, 
made the following report : — 

"A majority of the committee to whom was referred 
sundry petitions from the citizens of St. Anthony, St. 
Paul, and Little Canada, praying a modification of the 
present school law, beg leave to report : 

" That while they have been unable to give the mat- 
ters set forth in the petitions, that attention and investi- 
gation which their importance as affecting the rights 
and interests of so large and respectable a number of 
the citizens of this territory, would demand, it is evi- 
dent to them that the petitioners have just grounds of 
complaint, and that the present school law is defective 
in this : that while a revenue is derived from every tax- 
payer of this territory, to support and maintain common 
schools, more than one-third of the entire population 
of this territory have never derived any benefit from 
the large amounts paid for that purpose. 

" Your committee believing that duty demands a con- 
ciliation of law with individual liberty and freedom of 
conscience; and where any law does not, by reason of 
its imperfections, meet the wants and situation, and the 



586 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



thousand circumstances which diversify human cha- 
racter and pursuits, or where it fails to benefit commu- 
nities or denominations, by reason of a conscientious 
belief in opposition thereto, in common with their fellow- 
citizens, their case, of right, ought to be provided for 
by such legislation as is consistent with the welfare of 
every other citizen, and of the whole. 

"Your committee, therefore, ask leave to introduce 
the accompanying bill, and recommend its passage." 1 

The moderate of all denominations, and the friends 
of the American system of public instruction, were sur- 
prised at the introduction of a bill with such features as 



1 The following is the bill as 
originally introduced by the Com- 
mittee : — 

"No. 18, {H. of B.)— Introduced 
by Mr. Murray, from Select Com- 
mittee to which was referred sundry 
petitions on the subject, February 
sixteenth, 1853. Read first and 
second times, and laid on the table to 
be printed, February sixteenth, 1853 : 
— A Bill Amendatory of the 
School Law : 

" Be it enacted by the Legislative 
Assembly of the Territory of Minne- 
sota : — Sec. 1. That all communities 
•of any denomination, willing to 
have a school of their own, in which 
religious instruction will be taught 
.as well as other branches of educa- 
tion, be authorized to do so, and their 
schools shall be entitled to all the 
benefits accruing to district schools. 

"Sec. 2. All schools well organ- 
ized, and composed of at least twenty- 
five -children, shall receive a part of 
the school money, according to the 



number of children regularly at- 
tending the said school. 

" Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the 
trustees of any school district to 
issue warrants upon the treasurer 
for the proportionate share of money 
coming to any school as aforesaid, 
on application of the teacher or 
trustees of said school. Provided, 
that said teacher or trustees shall 
prove by the affidavit of at least one 
person, the number of scholars in 
regular attendance, which number 
shall be at least twenty-five. 

"Sec. 4. Such schools as only are 
composed of at least twenty-five child 
ren, and are kept in operation at least 
four hours every day, during five 
days of every week, shall be con- 
sidered well organized schools, and 
entitled to a share of the school fund. 

" Sec. 5. All acts and parts of acts, 
contravening the provisions of this 
act, are hereby repealed. 

" Sec. 6. This act to be in force 
from and after its passage." 



BALDWIN SCHOOL INCORPORATED. 587 

that introduced by Mr. Murray, and it led to consider- 
able discussion. 1 

The region west of the Mississippi was divided, by 
the legislature, into the following counties : Dahkotah, 
Goodhue, Waupashaw, Fillmore, Scott, Le Sueur, Bice, 
Blue Earth, Sibley, Nicollet, and Pierce. 

The Baldwin School, founded by the Bev. Edward 
D. Neill, Bev. Albert Barnes, and M. W. Baldwin of 
Philadelphia, Pa., was also incorporated at this session 
of the legislature, and was opened the following June. 

On the ninth of April, a party of Ojibways killed a 
Dahkotah, at the village of Shokpay. A war party, 
from Kaposia, then proceeded up the valley of the St. 
Croix, and killed an Ojibway. On the morning of the 
twenty-seventh, a band of Ojibway warriors, naked, 
decked, and fiercely gesticulating, might have been 
seen in the busiest street of the capital, in search of 
their enemies. Just at that time a small party of 
women, and one man, who had lost a leg in the 
battle of Stillwater, arrived in a canoe from Kaposia, 
at the Jackson street landing. Perceiving the Ojib- 
ways, they retreated to the building now known as the 
" Pioneer" office, and the Ojibways discharging a volley 

1 "No. 18, (H. of R.) 'A bill "Messrs. Lott, Murray, Noot, 

amendatory of the School Law/ Oliver, and Rolette — 5. 

"Was taken up. "Those who voted in the negative 

" The question then recurring on were, 

ordering the bill to a third reading, "Messrs. Ames, Dutton, Ludden, 

"And the ayes and noes being McKee, Randall, Russell, Ramsey, 

called for and ordered, there were Stimson, Truax, Wells, Wilcox and 

ayes 5, noes 12. Speaker — 12. 

" Those who voted in the affirm- " So the House refused to order 

ative were, the bill to be read a third time." 



588 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

through the windows, wounded a Dahkotah woman who 
soon died. For a short time, the infant capital pre- 
sented a sight similar to that witnessed in ancient days 
in Hadley and Deerfield, the then frontier towns of Mas- 
sachusetts. Messengers were despatched to Fort Snel- 
ling for the dragoons, and a party of citizens mounted 
on horseback, were quickly in pursuit of those who with 
so much boldness had sought the streets of St.. Paul, as 
a place to avenge their wrongs. The dragoons soon 
followed, with Indian guides scenting the track of the 
Ojibways, like bloodhounds. The next day they disco- 
vered the transgressors, near the Falls of St. Croix. 
The Ojibways manifesting what was supposed to be an 
insolent spirit, the order was given by the lieutenant in 
command, to fire, and he whose scalp was afterwards 
daguerreotyped, and appeared in Graham's Magazine, 
wallowed in gore. 

During the summer the passenger, as he stood on the 
hurricane deck of any of the steamboats, might have 
seen, on a scaffold on the bluffs, in the rear of Kaposia,. 
a square box covered with a coarsely fringed red cloth. 
Above it was suspended a piece of the Ojibway's scalp, 
whose death had caused the affray in the streets of St. 
Paul. Within was the body of the woman who had 
been shot in the " Pioneer" building while seeking 
refuge. A scalp suspended over the corpse is supposed 
to be a consolation to the soul, and a great protection in 
the journey to the spirit land. 

On the accession of Pierce to the Presidency of the 
United States, the officers appointed under the Taylor 
and Fillmore administrations were removed, and the 
following gentlemen substituted: Governor W. A. 



NEW TERRITORIAL OFFICERS. 589 

Gorman, of Indiana; 1 Secretary, J. T. Rosser, of Virginia; 
Chief Justice, W. H. Welch, of Minnesota ; Associates, 
Moses Sherburne, of Maine, and A. G. Chatfield, of Wis- 
consin. One of the first official acts of the secona 
governor, was the making of a treaty with the Winne- 
bago Indians at Watab, Benton county, for an exchange 
of country. 

At the close of the summer the Dahkotahs began to 
leave their ancient villages, and move to the reserve on 
the Upper Minnesota. Their locations on the Missis- 
sippi and Minnesota, previous to this period, was as 
follows : — 

The Kiyuksah band, called by that name, signifying 
" relationship overlooked," because they disregard the 
Dahkotah custom, and marry their relatives, lived below 
Lake Pepin. Their chief Wapashaw lived in the vici- 
nity of Winona, and they hunted on the Chippeway 
river and branches. 

At the head of Lake Pepin, where the town of Red 
Wing now stands, was the Raymneecha band. They 
were so designated because their village was near a hill 
(Ha), water (min), and wood (chan). The chief was 
Wah-koo-tay, the uncle of the celebrated half-breed 
Jack Frazer. 

Four miles below St. Paul dwelt the Kaposia band. 
The signification of Kaposia is " light," and applied be- 
cause of the agility with which they travelled. Their 
chief was called by the whites Little Crow, after his an- 
cestor. His real name is Tahohyahtaydootah, " His 

1 Governor Gorman was born in Buena Vista, he commanded the 

Fleming Co., Ky., but for many years Rifle Battalion, and in 1849 he was 

was a resident of Indiana. During elected as a member of Congress 

the Mexican war, at the battle of from the sixth Indiana district. 



590 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Scarlet People." The first village on the Minnesota was 
on the south side, and known as Black Dog's, about four 
miles above Mendota. 

At Oak Grove and vicinity lived Good Road's band, 
and the band driven by the Ojibways from Lake Calhoun. 

The Tintatonwan band occupied the site of Shokpay, 
and their principal chief was Shokpaydan, or Little 
Six. 1 

During the year 1853 an exciting topic of conversa- 
tion was an alleged fraud, said to have been perpetrated 
by Governor Ramsey, H. H. Sibley, H. L. Dousman, 
Franklin Steele, and others, in the payment of the Dah- 
kotahs tit Traverse des Sioux, in the autumn of 1852. 
Charges were made against Governor Ramsey by an 
Indian trader named Madison Sweetser, who had come 
into the country after the treaty, and was not satisfied 
with the mode of payment. At the request of Mr. 
Sibley, then a delegate to Congress, Senator Gwin 
moved that the Senate of the United States investigate 
the alleged fraud. Commissioners were appointed to 
proceed to Minnesota, and examine all the facts in the 
case. A large number of witnesses testified, and on the 
twenty-fourth of February, 1854, the Committee of 

1 Presbyterian missionaries and Shokpay. — Samuel W. Pond, Mis- 

assistants among the Dahkotahs, in sionary; Mrs. Cordelia F. Pond. 

1850-53:— Oak Grove.— Gideon H. Pond, 

Lac qui Parle.— Stephen R.Riggs, Missionary; Mrs. Sarah P. Pond. 

Moses N. Adams, Missionaries; Kaposia. — Thomas S.Williamson, 

Jonas Pettijohn, Assistant; Mrs. M. D., Missionary and Physician; 

Mary Ann C. Riggs, Mrs. Mary A. Mrs. Margaret P. Williamson, Miss 

M. Adams, Mrs. Fanny H. Pettijohn, Jane S. Williamson. 

Miss Sarah Rankin. Red Wing. — John F. Aiton, Mis- 

Traversedes Sioux. — Rev. Robert sionary ; Joseph W. Hancock, Licen- 

Hopkins and Mrs. Agnes Hopkins, tiate ; Mrs. Nancy H. Aiton, Mrs 

Alexander G. Huggins, Assistant; Hancock. 
Mrs. Lydia P. Huggins. 



ELECTION FOR DELEGATE TO CONGRESS. 



591 



Indian Affairs of the Senate, to whom the testimony 
taken by the commissioners appointed by the President 
of the United States was referred, reported " that they 
have carefully examined all the testimony taken by the 
commissioners during nearly three months in session at 
St. Paul, and have arrived at the conclusion that the 
conduct of Governor Ramsey was not only free from 
blame but highly commendable and meritorious. Not 
one of the charges preferred against him has been sus- 
tained by the testimony. On the contrary, the wit- 
nesses of the complainants themselves, in almost every 
instance, have negatived them, proving conclusively that 
he neither violated the stipulations of the treaties as 
understood by the parties to them, nor was governed in 
his conduct by motives other than such as entitle him 
to commendation, both as a man and an officer." 

On the twenty-ninth of June, D. A. Robertson, who 
by his enthusiasm and earnest advocacy of its princi- 
ples had done much to organize the Democratic party 
of Minnesota, retired from the editorial chair and was 
succeeded by David Olmsted. 

At the election held in October, Henry M. Rice and 
Alexander Wilkin were candidates for delegate to Con- 
gress. The former was elected by a decisive majority. 1 



1 The official vote was:- 





Rice. 


Wilkin. 




Rice. 


Wilkin 


Ramsey, . . 


. 880 


292 


Fillmore, . . 


. 161 


12 


Benton and Cass, 233 


38 


Nicollet, . . 


. 81 


00 


Hennepin, . . 


. 160 


30 


Chisago, . . 


. 41 


8 


Sibley, . . . 


. 13 


2 


Washington, . 


. 288 


147 


Wabasha, . . 


. 10 


24 


Itasca, . . . 


. 18 


00 


Dahkotah, . . 


. 114 


46 


Pembina, . . 


. 60 


68 


Scott, . . . 


. 51 


9 










Blue Earth, . 


. 16 


12 


Total, 


2149 


696 


Le Sueur, . . 


, 23 


8 









£92 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

With the advent of a new governor, a different 
arrangement of parties in a territory naturally fol- 
lows. 

During the early periods of a territorial government, 
citizens are so much occupied with local and personal 
interest, as not to feel the interest in national politics 
which is witnessed in the Atlantic States. 

From the previous chapters it appears that the excit- 
ing question of the year 1851 was the apportionment 
bill of the legislature of that year, allowing citizens on 
the unceded lands a representation. 

The year 1852 was characterized by the discussion 
on the liquor question, and the passage of a law prohi- 
biting the sale of intoxicating beverages, except for 
medicinal, mechanical, and sacramental purposes. The 
year 1853 was one of bitter personal controversy, and 
parties were known as Fur Company and Anti-Fur Com- 
pany. 

The year 1854 witnessed entirely new coalitions. 
Those who had previously stood shoulder to shoulder 
were found withstanding each other to the face. On 
the one side are ranged Ramsey, Rice, and Robertson ; 
on- the other side, Sibley and Gorman. 

The fifth session of the legislature was commenced in 



LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY, 1854. 



593 



the building just completed as the Capitol, on January 
fourth, 1854. The President of the Council was S. B. 
Olmstead. 1 

Governor Gorman delivered his first annual message on 
the tenth, and with his predecessor urged the importance 
of railway communications, and dwelt upon the neces- 
sity of fostering the interests of education, and of the 
lumbermen. 

The exciting bill of the session was the act incorpo- 



1 Council. 

Age. 

S. B. Olmstead 41 

J. R. Brown, 48 

I. Van Etten, 27 

N.W.Kittson, 40 

A. Stimson, 37 

W. P. Murray, 28 

W. Freeborn, 37 

J. E. Mower, 36 

House. 

R. Watson, 28 

Cephas Gardner, .... 53 

W. A. Davis, 31 

Levi Sloan, 31 

W.H.Nobles 36 

Wm. McKusiek, .... 28 

D. G. Morrison, 27 

C. P. Stearnes, 46 

N. C. D. Taylor 42 

Peter Roy, 26 

John Fisher, 29 

H. Fletcher, 35 

R. M. Richardson, .... 36 

J.H.Day, 33 

0. M. Lord, 27 

Louis Bartlette, 33 

H. S. Plumer, 25 

Wm. Noot, 43 

Joseph Rolette, 32 



Birth-place. 

Otsego Co., N. Y. 
York Co., Penn. 
Orange Co., N. Y. 
Sorel, Canada. 
York Co., Me. 
Butler Co., Ohio. 
Richland Co., Ohio. 
Somerset Co., Me. 



Scotland. 

N. H. 

St. Louis, Mo. 

Schoharie Co., N. Y. 

Genesee Co., N. Y. 

Maine. 

Fond du Lac, M. T. 

Berkshire Co., Mass. 

Belknap Co., N. H. 

Rainy Lake, M. T. 

Canada West. 

Maine. 

Pickaway Co., Ohio. 

Virginia. 

Wyoming Co., N. Y. 

Montreal, C. E. 

Sheffield Co, N. H. 

Prussia. 

Prairie du Chien. 



594 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

rating the Minnesota and. North-western Railroad Com- 
pany, introduced by Joseph R. Brown. It was passed 
after the hour of midnight on the last day of the ses- 
sion. Contrary to the expectation of his friends, the 
governor signed the bill. 

On Friday, the third of March, the Presbyterian mis- 
sion-house at Lac qui Parle was burned. Two of the 
children of the Rev. Mr. Riggs went into the cellar to 
procure some vegetables for their mother; bearing a 
lighted candle, they unintentionally communicated fire 
to the hay, and soon the house was in flames. Nearly 
everything was destroyed. The missionary, in a letter, 
says : " A few books were thrown out of the window, 
Gesenius' Hebrew Lexicon and a few others, but neither 
my Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, Yulgate, French Bible, 
nor Greek Testament, nor a single copy of the English 
Scriptures, were saved. A short time since I had, at the 
request of Dr. Williamson, obtained of Mr. M. Renville 
his father's large French Bible, for the library of the 
Minnesota Historical Society. It was printed at Geneva, 
Switzerland, in 1588, if I remember correctly, and was 
not only the oldest, but probably the first Bible in Min- 
nesota. For its historical value we all very much regret 
its loss. * * * * * When Paul and those who 
sailed with him were shipwrecked on the island of 
Melita, he says, ' The barbarous people showed us no 
little kindness.' How often have I thought of this 
within a few days ! While some of the Dahkotahs came, 
both during and after the fire, to steal, the majority 
exerted themselves to save for us what could be saved." 

During the same month Joseph R. Brown, who had 
been editor of the Pioneer, was succeeded by Earle S, 
Goodrich, the present conductor of the paper. 



GREAT RAILROAD EXCURSION. 595 

Tuesday, the eighth of June, is a day that will long 
be remembered by the early settlers of Minnesota. 
Mr. Farnham, the builder of the Rock Island Railroad, 
to mark the era of its completion, with princely libe- 
rality, extended an invitation to hundreds of " the wise 
men of the East," to accompany him, via the Chicago 
and Rock Island Road, on a pleasure excursion to the 
Upper Mississippi. At the wharf at Rock Island, the 
company found five large steamers ready to receive 
them. Among the guests were some of the prominent 
statesmen, divines, scholars, editors, and merchants of 
the land. 1 Passing through Lake Pepin, on a beautiful 
night, the steamers quietly approached each other, and 
being fastened together, the signal was given for a gene- 
ral exchange of visits from boat to boat. The scene of 
grandeur and excitement, as these boats moved through 
the lake, side by side, with their precious freight, will 
probably never be repeated. Arriving near St. Paul a 
day sooner than was anticipated, the firing of a cannon 
on board of the steamer in advance, created considerable 
surprise and confusion, as the preparations for the proper 
reception of one thousand guests were not completed. 
All felt that they could not return without beholding the 
Falls of St. Anthony, and yet appropriate vehicles were 
very scarce. Though a man could have given a king- 
dom, he could' not have obtained a horse for himself. 
The ride to St. Anthony was however accomplished, 

1 Ex-President Fillmore. Professor H. B. Smith, New York. 

George Bancroft. Rev. Dr. Vermilye. 

Professor Silliman. Rev. Dr. Spring. 

Edward Robinson, LL. D. Rev. Dr. Bacon. 

Professor Gibbs, Yale College. Charles Sedgwick. 

Professor Larned, Yale College. Miss Catharine Sedgwick, and 
Professor Parker, Harvard. many others. 



596 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

after a fashion. A Galena editor thus described the 
scene :--- 

"The c March to Finchley' was nothing compared to 
our motley cavalcade. Here was a governor astride a 
sorry Rozinante of which even the great Don would 
have been ashamed; here an United States Senator, 
acting the' part of footman, stood bold upright in the 
baggage boot of a coach, holding on by the iron rail 
surrounding the top ; here the historian of whom the 
country- is justly proud, squatted on the top of a crazy 
van, unmindful of everything but himself, his book, hat, 
and spectacles ; there a hot-house flower, nursed in some 
eastern conservatory, so delicate and fragile that a fall- 
ing leaf might crush it, but a beautiful specimen of the 
feminine gender withal, would be seated over the hind 
axle of a lumber wagon, supported on each side by opera 
glass exquisites, who only wondered i why the devil the 
people in this country didn't send to New York for 
better carriages ?' and whose groans between every jolt, 
furnished amusement for the more hardy of the party ; 
Jiere some corpulent madame, whose idea of a ride is 
bounded by luxuriant cushions, shining hammer cloths, 
spirited horses, and obsequious flunkies, was seated in 
a hard bottom chair, in an open one-horse wagon, first 
cousin to her husband's vegetable drag, or perhaps his 
pedlar's cart, before riches came to bless them (about 
which she has forgotten of course), here she was, sur- 
rounded perhaps by the canaille whom she has learned 
in latter days to despise, dragged along at a snail's pace 
by one old mare, with a crazy, foolish, wickering colt 
alongside, to torment her and to make the driver curse ; 
there a politician who has ridden successfully more than 



SPEECHES OF FILLMORE AND BANCROFT AT CAPITOL. 59"; 

cue easy hobby, would have been glad to ride a rail. 
The scene was animated and amusing !" 

In the afternoon the steamers proceeded to Fort 
Snelling, and the gates being thrown open, the fort was 
completely stormed. As the fair company retired from 
the green sward, within the walls, the fort never seemed so 
lonely to the young lieutenants, and that night memory 
brought the light of other days around them. Eeturn- 
ing to St. Paul before dark, the citizens and the guests 
repaired to the Capitol. The more grave listened to 
speeches in the Senate Chamber, from Ex-President 
Fillmore, and Bancroft the historian, while the more 
gay tripped it, in the Supreme Court Room. At mid- 
night the guests embarked on their respective steamers, 
whose bows were soon turned towards the homes of the 
visiters. 

On the following Sunday, Rev. E. D. Neill, who had 
not been able to give his usual attention to study, preached 
a discourse suggested by the occasion, which was pub- 
lished in one of the St. Paul papers, and was severely 
criticised by the Daily Times of New York city, as in- 
appropriate to the pulpit. From the fact, that it led 
to some profitable discussion on what a sermon should 
be, we give an abstract. The texts were : — 

u Isaiah xl. 3. The voice of him that crieth in the 
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make 
straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every 
valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill 
shall be made low ; and the crooked shall be made 
straight, and the rough places plain. 

" Judges v. 6. In the days of Shamgar the son of 
Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccu- 
pied and the travellers walked through byways." 



598 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

The introduction was in these words : — 

" The Prophet Isaiah, in uttering this language, fore- 
told in figurative expressions, the pioneer work of John 
the Baptist, yet it primarily was applied to the return 
of the Hebrews from their captivity in Babylon. 

" Not only in the days of Shamgar, but during all of 
the earlier periods of the history of the world, there was 
but little international intercourse. The means of trans- 
portation were exceedingly limited, and there were few 
roads that were common thoroughfares for nations. 

" Here and there, over the mountains and through 
the valleys, there were the trails of the hunter and rest 
less adventurer, and pathways of sheep and their shep- 
herds, but seldom was there a highway of any costliness 
extending beyond the national boundaries. It was the 
policy of the day to intrench or wall themselves around, 
and cut off the intercommunication of the people. When, 
therefore, great bodies of men were necessitated to move 
toward some distant land, a preparatory work was needed. 
Pioneers preceding the army or caravan, made highways 
for their passage, smoothing down the rough hills and 
filling up the marshy valleys. 

" Diodorus, an ancient historian, in giving an account 
of Semiramis, Queen of Babylon, says : ' In her march 
to Ecbatane, she came to the Zarcean mountain, which, 
extending many furlongs, and being full of craggy pre- 
cipices and deep hollows, could not be passed without 
taking a great compass. Being therefore desirous of 
leaving an everlasting memorial of herself, as well as 
shortening the way, she ordered the precipices to be 
digged down and the hollows to be filled up, and at a 
great expense she made a shorter and more expeditious 



RAILWAYS IN THEIR RELIGIOUS ASPECTS. 599 

road, which to this day is called from her the road of 
Semiramis. , 

" Babylon was separated from Judea by a wide and 
dreary country, and no doubt pioneers w r ere literally 
sent on before to i make straight in the desert a high- 
way.' 

" Since the advent of the year eighteen hundred and 
fifty-four, the community in which we dw r ell have been 
greatly interested in the propositions for making a 
straight iron highway from the head of Lake Superior 
to this point on the Mississippi, and from hence to 
the waters of the Pacific, connecting with bracelets of 
iron the Naiads of the St. Lawrence, Mississippi, and 
Columbia. 

" Every mail is watched with eagerness, in the hope 
that it may bring the intelligence that the National 
Congress has taken measures for exalting the valleys 
and lowering the hills and mountains that He between 
our Mediterranean and Pacific. 

" The week that has passed has been signalized by 
the arrival of hundreds of our fellow-countrymen on an 
excursion in boats as far excelling in splendour the re- 
nowned barges of the luxurious Cleopatra, as those sur- 
passed the osier vessels of the Briton, or the birchen 
canoe of the Ojibway, — who have been gratified and 
astonished by a continuous journey in a steam vehicle 
from the shores of the Atlantic to the head of naviga- 
tion of the mighty Mississippi, in the brief space of a 
few days. 

" ' To every thing there is a season, and a time to 
every purpose under heaven,' saith Ecclesiastes. 

•• Fatigued with the multiplied duties of last week, 
unfitted for severe thought, and believing that the 



600 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

theme can be appropriately discussed, without infring- 
ing upon the sacredness of the day, or deviating from 
the dignity of the pulpit, we enter upon the considera- 
tion of railways and other modes of international com- 
munication, in the higher and religious aspects." 

The preacher proceeded to show that they decrease 
idleness ; expand the mind of the nation ; were aids to- 
con ten tment; rode over sectional prejudices; promoted 
a common healthful public sentiment ; and lastly, were 
agencies in the promotion of pure and undefiled religion. 
Under this head the clergyman remarked : — 

" First : They draw the emigrant population to cer- 
tain localities. Before the mountains were depressed,, 
and the valleys exalted, and the rough places made 
plain, the roads were so unbroken that the farmer mov- 
ing into a new land, was not attracted by the beaten 
path, but he branched off in the direction inclination 
prompted. Settlements consequently were much scat- 
tered, and it was difficult for him who longed to pro- 
claim the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ to discover 
the abiding places of the lost sheep of Israel. It was 
almost impossible in the first period of the settlement 
of a new country to pass from house to house, on ac- 
count of the impassable state of the road. But the 
condition of affairs has changed. 

" The emigrant population of the Atlantic and Euro- 
pean states are drawn as if by magnetic influence along 
the great iron railway leading from the eastern cities of 
commerce to the remotest west. In this way, made 
acquainted with the sections of land in the vicinity, and 
knowing the advantages of a railway in finding a mar- 
ket for produce, they settle along the line of the great 
inland road, and the labourer in Christ's cause, finds the 



RAILROADS ANTIDOTES TO BIGOTRY. § 601 

fields white for the harvest, and numbers in the same 
neighbourhood to whom the gospel should be preached. 
By these highways he is enabled to advance along with, 
or before the wave of emigration, and commence turn 
ing the wilderness into the garden of the Lord, before 
the rank weeds of error have taken deep root. 

"Had the means of conveyance to this town not 
been expeditious, the ministers of Jesus Christ, would 
not have been here at the laying of the foundation 
stones of our territorial existence, and years would have 
probably elapsed before so many temples erected to the 
worship of the true and living God would have been 
visible, or the community reached its present position 
in the scale of civilization. 

6i Secondly : They aid religion by proving antidotes to 
bigotry. When the wagon drawn by oxen was the mode 
of conveyance to a new country, but few penetrated the 
wilds of the west, except those who had been driven 
away from the homestead of their fathers by poverty 
or other misfortune. 

u Far away from all refining influences, they rapidly 
degenerated; their children, debarred the knowledge of 
the common school, grew up without education, and 
were semi-barbarous. The only religious teachers they 
possessed were those who came to them because they 
knew they were ignorant and ripe for error, or because 
their own ignorance had rendered them unfit for the 
exercise of the ministry where there was intelligence. 
Under the guidance of these, they grew up with strong 
prejudices towards those who attempted to present the 
truth in a different light, or a more polished dress, or 
wore a blacker coat. The religion they possessed was 
tinctured with the quintessence of bigotry. 



602 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

" Thi ough the influence of railways and steam car- 
riages, this state of things has been almost dissipated. 

" The very year a town starts into existence, the in- 
habitants are visited by religious teachers of various 
schools of belief. The student who has been disciplined 
in the college, and who has studied the Bible systemati- 
cally, as well as he who has hurried from the work-bench 
into the pulpit, stand side by side. 

" He who defends the general teachings of Calvin, and 
he who eulogizes Wesley, appear before the same audi- 
ence, perhaps upon the same Sabbath. It will not do 
for either to show an improper spirit, or an unwise 
sectarian zeal. Men who listen to the herald of salva- 
tion in such circumstances are not won to Christ by a 
minister of the gospel depreciating his fellow-ministers. 
They are impenitent under discourses in which there is 
an attempt to prove that none are safe out of the line 
of a certain succession, or off of certain platforms of 
faith. They demand that those truths shall be preached 
which will convince them that religion is adapted to 
expand the mind, and promote man's highest well-being. 
They become acquainted with the writings of Fenelon 
and Pascal, Leighton and Taylor, Edwards and Chal- 
mers, Wesley and Fletcher, and love them not because 
of denominational peculiarities, but because of their 
likeness to Jesus. The contractedness that in days gone 
by was manifested in places that were settled almost 
exclusively by Scotch Presbyterians, English Puritans, 
and Wesleyan Methodists, in this progressive age will 
now disappear, and religion will assume a higher and 
more effective, because a more scriptural type. 

" Thirdly : Religion is promoted by the construction 
of expeditious routes of travel, because there is a great 



RAILWAYS SAVE TIME. 603 

saving of time. The days that were once lost by a 
minister in passing from preaching station to preaching 
station, are saved upon a line of railway, or a river 
navigated by regular steamers. He can accomplish in 
a few hours what once occupied as many days, and thus 
he has more time for study, prayer, and meditation. 

"Under the improved system of travelling, a man 
like the eloquent Dr. Duff, can cross the ocean, and one 
Sunday hold the attention of thousands on the Atlantic 
coast, and on the next be discoursing to an audience 
equally interested far away in the valley of the Missis- 
sippi, and ere long a divine can pass his third Sabbath 
with the future dwellers On the mountain tops of Oregon, 
and the fourth Sabbath, address a congregation on the 
Pacific coast. 

"Finally, our great thoroughfares are destined to 
facilitate intercourse with the Pagan world of Asia, and 
hasten the approach of Millennial glory. 

' Coming events cast their shadows before/ 

" For more than two centuries an impression has pre- 
vailed that the welfare of the whole globe would be 
promoted by a channel of travel through North America, 
connecting the western settlements of Europe with the 
eastern nations of Asia. The island of Montreal was 
named by Robert de La Salle, 6 China,' to commemorate 
his cherished plan of civilizing and evangelizing the 
great empire of that name, by establishing a channel of 
communication through this continent. Hennepin, the 
tirst European that ever ascended the Mississippi, and 
the discoverer of the Falls of St. Anthony, was a Fran- 
ciscan priest, despatched by the adventurous La Salle 



604 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

to explore a route to Japan, which he thought could be 
found in this direction. % 

"The first British subject that entered Minnesota, 
about a century ago, predicted that there would be 'a 
short cut made from New York to Green Bay/ and had 
no doubt, to use his own words, c that mighty kingdoms 
would emerge from these wildernesses, and stately palaces 
and solemn temples with gilded spires rending the skies, 
supplant the Indian huts, whose only decorations are 
the barbarous trophies of their vanquished enemies/ 
Returning to London, he formed a plan, with the aid 
of a member of Parliament, 'that would disclose new 
sources of trade, promote many useful discoveries, and 
open a passage for conveying intelligence to China and 
the English settlements in the East Indies, with greater 
expedition than a tedious voyage by the Cape of Good 
Hope or the Straits of Magellan/ 

" Had not the American Revolution taken place, it. 
was designed to have built a fort at Lake Pepin, to have 
proceeded up the river St. Pierre (now known by it& 
original name, Minnesota), then up a branch of the 
Missouri, till they discovered, as they supposed they 
could, the river Oregon, down which they expected to 
sail into the Pacific. 

" One year ago, we witnessed a civil and military 
expedition start forth from our vicinity, by order of the 
United States, in search of the long-desired thoroughfare 
to the Pacific. The commander of that expedition 1 has 
returned to Washington, by the way of San Francisco, 
and reports that such a route is entirely practicable. 

" On Thursday of the last week, men distinguished 
in the professional, scientific, and commercial circles of 
the country, visited us, and felt that the day was not 

1 Governor Stevens. 



PACIFIC RAILROAD PROMOTER OF CHRISTIANITY. 605 

far distant when the waters of Superior and Pacific 
would be bound together. Let this only occur, and 
who can doubt that the Redeemer's kingdom will be 
extended, that — 

11 From Java to the furthest West 
The heavenly light shall reach, 
And truth divine its power attest 
In every clime and speech." 

" A Pacific Railroad would be a voice in the wilder 
ness, saying, ' Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make 
his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and 
every mountain and hill shall be brought low ; and the 
crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways 
shall be made smooth ; and all flesh shall see the salva- 
tion of God.' 

" In view of the good results, it becomes Christians 
to watch with interest the enterprises of the day* 
Every great invention is an aid to the cause of religion. 
The telescope, the printing press, the telegraph, the 
ocean steamers, a Pacific Railway, are ordained by God, 
not for the pulling down but the upbuilding of religion 
— they are all working together to produce the grand 
consummation of giving the kingdoms of this world to 
€hrist — of bringing about the day when all will cry : — 

" Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us ; 
The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks 
Shout to each other, and the mountain tops 
From distant mountains catch the flying joy; 
Till, nation after nation taught the strain, 
Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round." 

" With a few remarks we close the discourse. 

"" In such a fast age every Christian must be up and 



606 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

doing. It is high time to awake out of sleep. We 
must gird ourselves up for the race, and pray earnestly 
that we may not as a Church of Christ be found lag- 
ging when all things else are advancing with accele- 
rated speed. This one thing we ought to do — ' Forget- 
ting those things which are behind, and reaching forth 
unto those things that are before, we should press 
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of 
God in Christ Jesus.' 

" It would be doing violence to my own feelings, and 
a neglect of ministerial duty, if I should conclude this 
discourse without reminding this audience that this 
world is a great station-house, in which we are await- 
ing the approach of the cars that lead to 6 that bourne 
from whence no traveller returns,' but through which 
every traveller passes to regions of bliss or despair. 

" My hearers ! some of you have tickets that will 
lead you to hell. The car of death is hastening on, 
swifter than an eagle hasteneth to its prey, or any 
6 lightning train.' Before it arrives we urge you to 
change that ticket. Christ is always in his office. He 
says, ' If any man knocketh, the door shall be opened.' 
If any man asketh, he will change his ticket, and that 
' without money and without price.' 

u Hasten before it is too late. Now ! now ! now ! ' is 
the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation.' " 

On the twenty-ninth of the month of this excursion, 
Congress passed an act to aid the Territory of Minne- 
sota in the construction of a railroad therein, which was 
approved by the President, and directions were issued 
from the General Land Office to the offices in Minnesota, 
withdrawing from sale a city, certain townships on the 
line of the proposed road. The citizens of Minnesota 



REPEAL OF LAND GRANT BY CONGRESS. 607 

received the intelligence with joyful enthusiasm, but the 
Greek proverb, 

there's many a slip between the cup and the lip, was 
soon fulfilled. 

On the twenty-fourth of July, in the House of Repre- 
sentatives of the United States, Mr. Washburne, of 
Illinois, rose to a question of privilege. He said the 
House, on the twenty-ninth of June, passed the bill 
granting lands to Minnesota, to aid in the construction 
of railroads, and a material alteration had been made 
since its engrossment. The bill was introduced here by 
the Committee on Public Lands. It was drawn up by 
a gentleman from Minnesota, who was well acquainted 
with the subject, and who had frequent consultations 
with him (Mr. Washburne) concerning its provisions. 
Minnesota had chartered a company with most extra- 
ordinary powers, granting to it all the lands which have 
been or may hereafter be donated to that territory for 
the construction of railroads. The House, to avoid this, 
added a proviso that said lands shall be subject to the 
disposition of any future legislature for the purpose 
aforesaid. Nor shall they inure to the benefit of any 
company hereafter to be constituted or organized. This 
was the way the bill was originally framed, to prevent 
the company from receiving the benefit of the grant. 
The first alteration he noticed was the striking out of 
the word " future," but this he believed was made by 
the committee. The second alteration, which he charged 
with being made after the bill was engrossed, was the 
changing of the word " or" to the word " and," so as to 
read " constituted and organized company." This com- 
pany, not being constituted and organized, expects to 



308 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

hold these lands under the bill, and hence he charged 
this object in the alteration. The word was in a hand 
different from that of the engrossment. This was a 
matter affecting deeply the proceedings of the House, 
and it was due that an examination should be made, as 
the records of this House have been mutilated. 

Mr. Washburne said he understood the bill was 
altered after it was sent from the House to the Senate. 
He offered a resolution for the appointment of a select 
committee to inquire into the fact which he brought 
before the House, with power to send for persons and 
papers, and to examine witnesses under oath. 

Mr. Stevens, of Michigan, rose to make a personal 
explanation with reference to the subject on which the 
special committee had a short time since been ordered 
to be appointed. He intended to make his statement 
on honour. After the Minnesota Land Bill had been 
sent to the Committee on Public Lands, of which he is 
a member, it was referred to him for his individual 
action on it. Gentlemen who were connected with the 
bill called on him, and requested that certain alterations 
should be made in the third section before he returned 
the bill to the committee. The alterations desired were 
explained. One of them was to affect the subject of 
legislation in Minnesota in relation to lands granted by 
Congress, and he, with his own hands, struck from the 
original bill the word "future." The other was the 
alteration of the word " or" to " and," and he thought 
proper it should be made, and he supposed he had made 
it. He presented the bill with some explanation to the 
Committee on Public Lands, which approved of it. He 
then reported it to the House. It passed, and was sent 
to the Senate. After getting there, his attention was 



DISCUSSION IN U. S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 609 

called to the bill. It was remarked that the alteration 
which he said he had made, he did not make, or that 
the bill did not contain the alteration. He conferred 
with one or two gentlemen of the Senate, and told them 
frankly that when he reported the bill to the Committee 
on Public Lands, he made the alterations, or intended 
to do so. Subsequently one of the Senate clerks came 
to him in the lobby fronting the centre door. He met 
General Patton, who held out the bill, and pointing out 
the third section, asked him whether it was right. To 
which he (Mr. Stevens) replied it was not right as it 
passed from the Committee on Public Lands, and ac- 
cording to his recollection, he further said, " You will 
find, if you look at the original draft, the word ' and' 
instead of 6 or' is there." He went to the desk of the 
House engrossing clerk (Mr. Sperle), where the matter 
was talked over. He there stated he had supposed he 
had made the alteration in the original draft, and 
thought he voted for the bill thus amended. The ques- 
tion came up as to whether the alteration could be 
made, and several Senators said it was a mere verbal 
alteration, and they had frequently made such. 

Mr. Forney said he did not know whether the bill 
could be altered. But Mr. Patton said, " We frequently 
make such alterations." Whereupon Colonel Forney re- 
marked, " Then perhaps it would be better the alteration 
should be made." He (Mr. Stevens) left, and he sup- 
posed the alteration was made in consequence of what 
had taken place. He wished to withhold nothing, but 
to state the facts. However much he may have erred, 
he wished to state them frankly. If he had sinned, it 
was an error of judgment, nothing more. He was per- 
fectly certain that Colonel Forney, in giving his sanction 

39 



610 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

to the alteration, supposed he was right and justified in 
so doing. He wished here to say, this was the first and 
last interview he had with Colonel Forney on the sub- 
ject. So help him God, he did not then know of any 
design in having the bill changed from its original form ; 
he said the only interest he had in the bill was to con- 
nect the waters of the Mississippi with the lake and 
steamboat navigation, and thereby benefit other states, 
and the substitution of the word " and" for " or" could 
not affect the original purpose. 

On the morning of August the third the bill was re- 
pealed, and the news was quickly transmitted by the 
energetic delegate of Minnesota, Hon. H. M. Rice. 1 

The Minnesota and North-western Railroad Com- 
pany contended that the} 7 had complied with the pro- 
visions of the act of Congress, and that that body had 
no right to repeal. A complaint was brought before 

1 Washington, Aug. 3, 1854, the clerk of the House, Col. For- 

1 o'clock, p. m. ney. 

Dear Sir: — This morning the se- The vote to repeal was 109 to 56. 
lect committee reported that the The vote for expelling Col. Forney 
word " and" between the words was ayes 18, nays 154. 
" constituted" and "organized" had The Senate must now act in re- 
been substituted for the word " or," gard to the repeal of the grant — its 
but exonerated Gen. Stevens and the non-concurrence will save the grant 
clerk of the House — and recommend- — but it is impossible for me to now 
ed that the word "or" be reinstated, give a conjecture of its probable ac- 
Mr. Letcher's (of Virginia) repeal tion. To-morrow will tell the tale: 
bill was introduced and carried by the result will be forwarded by tole- 
a large majority — so the House has graph. Many able lawyers are of 
repealed the Minnesota land grant, the opinion that Congress has not 
The testimony taken by the commit- the power to repeal the act. That, 
tee will be printed — a copy of which however, is a question to be settled 
I will send you as soon as possible — hereafter. 

then the people of Minnesota can In haste, respectfully yours, 

judge for themselves. A motion is H. M. Rick. 

now before the House to discharge D. Olmsted, Esq. 



DECISION OF JUDGE WELCH ON RAILROAD TRESPASS. 6U 

Judge Welch, at a session of the United ,States District 
Court, in Goodhue county, against the company. The 
complaint alleged that the company had cut and carried 
off five hundred trees, the property of the United States, 
in Goodhue county. On the fourth of November, Chief 
Justice Welch gave judgment in favour of the railroad 
company. The case was carried up to the Supreme 
Court of Minnesota, on December sixth, which con- 
firmed the decision of Chief Justice Welch. Chancellor 
Walworth, and other jurists of New York, furnished 
written opinions that Congress had no right to repeal 
the act. The case was then taken to the Supreme 
Court of the United States. 1 

On the afternoon of December twenty-seventh, the 
first public execution in Minnesota, in accordance with 
the forms of law, took place. Yuhazee, the Dahkotah 
who had been convicted in November, 1852, for the 
murder of a German woman, above Shokpay, was the 
individual. The scaffold was erected on the open space, 
between the Franklin House and the rear of Mr. J. W. 
Selby's enclosure. About two o'clock, the prisoner, 
dressed in a white shroud, left the old log prison, near 
the court house, and entered a carriage with the officers 
of the law. Being assisted up the steps that led to the 
scaffold, he made a few remarks in his own language, 
and was then executed. A disgraceful rabble sur- 
rounded the scaffold, and none of the decencies of law 
were manifested on the occasion. Says an editor, " liquor 
was openly passed through the crowd, and the last 
moments of the poor Indian were disturbed by baccha- 

1 At the December Term, 1855, continue the case, which motion 
Supreme Court of the United States, was granted, 
the attorney-general moved to dis- 



612 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



nalian yells angl cries. Kemarks too heartless and de- 
praved, in regard to the deceased, to come from men, 
were freely bandied. A half-drunken father could be 
seen holding in his arms a child eager to see well; 
giddy and senseless girls chatted with their attendants, 
and old women were seen vying with drunken ruffians 
for a place near the gallows." Numerous ladies sent in 
a petition to the governor, asking the pardon of the 
Indian, to which that officer made an appropriate reply. 1 



1 Executive Department, M. T., } 
St. Paul, Dec. 28, 1854. j 

Ladies : — I have the honour to ac- 
knowledge the receipt of your peti- 
tion, asking me, as the executive of 
the territory, to pardon the Indian 
mow under sentence of death, or to 
commute his punishment to impris- 
onment for life in the penitentiary. 

I cannot conceal the sympathy I 
feel, in common with each of you, 
on this melancholy subject ; and I 
Und it even more difficult to reject 
the prayer of those whose hearts are 
.always first in missions of mercy ; 
those who are always first to imitate 
the divine character and forgive. 
'Those whose gentle hands smooth 
the brow of the sick and afflicted. 
Those who are first to console even 
in the last hours of trial. And this 
petition is a high compliment to 
these many virtues, and even a still 
higher one to the benevolence of 
your hearts. " To forget is a vir- 
tue; but to forgive is divine." But, 
ladies, I deeply regret, that, in ac- 
cordance with what I deem to be 
my -duty to the country, and the 
general peace of society, I cannot 
consistently grant the prayer of 
your petition. 

The murder for which this unfor- 



tunate child of nature is condemned, 
was without a shadow of excuse. 
It was seemingly deliberate, and his 
victim was of your sex, innocent and 
defenceless. She was murdered by 
the side of a poor, but no doubt 
fond and devoted husband, while in 
the public highway, wending their 
course to a new home. 

If such criminals should be al- 
lowed to escape the stern demands 
of the law, others of his savage tribe 
might be tempted to hope for a 
like release, and commit a like of- 
fence ; and the danger of such re- 
sults would be far greater from In- 
dians than from civilized man. 

Every effort that can be has been 
made to save him by the law. An 
impartial jury of the country gave 
him a fair trial, and found him guil- 
ty. And there is no just reason 
known to stay the execution of the 
penalty of the law. 

With sentiments of the highest 
personal regard, 

I am, most respectfully, 
Your ob't serv't, 

W. A. Gorman. 
To Mrs. Julia E. Fillmore, Mrs. An- 
na E. Ramsey, Mrs. E. R. Hol- 
linshead, and others. 



FIRST BRIDGE ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI. 613 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

The discussion concerning the charter of the Min- 
nesota and North-western Railroad Company did not 
terminate with the year 1854. 

The sixth session of the legislature convened on the 
third of January, 1855. S. B. Olmstead was elected 
President of the Council, and J. S. Norris Speaker of 
the House. 

About the last of January, the two houses adjourned 
one day to attend the exercises occasioned by the open- 
ing of the first bridge of any kind over the mighty 
Mississippi ever completed, from Lake Itasca to the 
Gulf of Mexico. It is made of wire, and at the time 
of its opening, the patent for the land on which the west 
piers were built had not been issued from the Land 
Office, a striking evidence of the rapidity with which 
Minnesota is being developed. 

The governor, in his message to the legislature, took 
strong ground against the railroad charter, and in the 
United States House of Representatives a resolution was 
passed declaring the charter of the Minnesota and North- 
western Company null. On the twenty-seventh of Feb- 
ruary, the United States Senate refused to approve of the 
resolution that had passed the House, annulling the 
charter of the company. The news that the charter 
was not annulled caused great rejoicing among the 
friends of the railroad, and on Saturday night, March 



614 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



twenty-fourth, there was a general illumination of the 
principal stores and residences of the capital. 

Governor Gorman having vetoed a bill passed by the 
Minnesota legislature, amending the act incorporating 
the Minnesota and North-western Railroad Company, it 
was again passed in the legislature on February twenty- 
first, by a two-thirds vote, and became a law. 

On the twenty-ninth of March, a convention was held 
at St. Anthony, which led to the formation of the Repub- 
lican party of Minnesota. This body took measures for 
the holding of a territorial convention at St. Paul, which 
convened on the twenty-fifth of July, and William R. 
Marshall was nominated as delegate to Congress. 
Shortly after the friends of Mr. Sibley nominated David 
Olmsted and Henry M. Rice, the former delegate was 
also a candidate. The contest was animated, and 
resulted in the election of Mr. Rice. 1 

1 Vote for Delegate : — 



Counties. 


Rice. 


Marshall. 


Olmsted. 


Counties. 


Rice. 


Marshall 


Olmsted 


Blue Earth, 


. 54 


52 


12 


Nicollet, . . 


85 


34 


39 


Brown,* 


. 30 






Olmsted,* . 






100 


Benton, . 


. 195 


52 


121 


Pierce, . . . 








Carver, . . 


. 37 


28 


33 


Pembina, . 


46 






Cass, . . 


. 57 






Rice, . . . 


50 


226 


48 


Chisago, 


. 104 


61 


11 


Renville, 








Dahkotah, . 


. 153 


161 


331 


Ramsey, 


735 


510 


529 


Dodge, . . 


. 48 


49 


1 


Scott, t . . 


190 


125 


127 


Doty,* . . 


. 100 






Stearns, . . 


125 


- 7 


42 


Davis, . . 


. 






Sibley, . . 


96 


4 


1 


Fillmore, 


. 185 


151 


9 


Superior,* . 


200 






Freeborn, 


. 






Steele, . . 








Faribault, 








Todd, . . 


9 






Goodhue, 


. 184 


126 


1 


Wabashaw, 


18 


103 


30 


Hennepin, 


. 358 


415 


80 


Winona, 


132 


134 


57 


Houston,* 


. 115 


16 




Washington, 


292 


121 


37 


Itasea, 


. 






Wright, . . 


11 


63 


18 


Le Sueur,* 


. 56 


55 


19 













Mower,* . 


. . 40 








3705 


2493 


1746 


* Incomplete. 

















SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.— LEGISLATURE OF 1856. 615 

About noon of December twelfth, 1855, a four horse 
vehicle was seen driving rapidly through St. Paul ; and 
deep was the interest when it was announced that one 
of the Arctic exploring party, Mr. James Stewart, was 
on his way to Canada with relics of the world-renowned 
and world-mourned Sir John Franklin. Gathering to- 
gether the precious fragments found on Montreal island 
and vicinity, the party had left the region of icebergs 
on the ninth of August, and after a continued land 
journey from that time had reached St. Paul on that 
day en route to the Hudson Bay Company's quarters in 
Canada. 

The seventh session of the Legislative Assembly was 
begun on the second of January, 1856, and again the 
exciting question was the Minnesota and North-western 
Railroad Company. 

John B. Brisbin was elected President of the Council, 
and Charles Gardiner, Speaker of the House. 

Governor Gorman, in his annual message, devoted 
much space to railroad projects, and expressed his oppo- 
sition to the Minnesota and North-western Railroad. 
Contrary to what the community had anticipated, on 
the last night of the session, the governor signed a bill 
giving an extension of time to the company. With the 
announcement of the approval, he submitted the follow- 
ing message : — 

" I have this day approved and signed an act, entitled 
i An act granting an extension of time to the Minnesota 
and North-western Railroad Company, and for other 
purposes.' 

" This bill is satisfactory so far as the resulting in- 
terest is concerned, yet there are not such guards as in 



616 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

my judgment should be thrown around so important an 
interest as is involved in this company's charter. 

" I have, from the beginning of this railroad question,, 
earnestly sought the permanent welfare of Minnesota, 
and in conjunction with many faithful and upright men 
in public and private life, finally succeeded in procuring 
two per cent, upon the gross proceeds, receipts, and 
income of said road. 

" This percentage, if the road is ever built, is to be 
applied to the governmental expenses of our future state, 
and must yield ample means in a few years to relieve 
our fellow-citizens from all state taxes for state pur- 
poses, and must be admitted by all as an important 
event to the tax-payers of our country. 

"If, on the other hand, said company shall not con- 
struct the road nor get the land, nothing can be lost to> 
the people. I have yielded other objections, because 
three several legislatures have passed favourably upon 
this company's charter and amendments, and I feel that 
each favourable amendment should not be lost, because 
others are desirable. Strong professions of ample capa- 
city to build this road have been made ; we shall now 
see how far they are to be realized ; I confess that my 
confidence in these professions is still feeble. 

"The means used to accomplish ends by this com- 
pany have never met my approval, and I trust never will^ 
but if they shall fairly and legally get possession of the 
lands granted by Congress to aid in constructing said 
road, I trust we shall have no cause to regret having 
urged the demands of the people for the interest and 
guards we have succeeded in throwing around their 
corporate powers. Trusting to the calm and consider- 
ate judgment of my fellow-citizens, and especially to- 



LIST OF LEGISLATORS OF 1856. 



61' 



the members of the legislature, I leave the future to- 
develop its results." * 

1 List of Members of the Seventh Session of the Legislative Assembly of 

Minnesota. 

COUNCIL. 



Balcomb, Saint A. D. 
Bailley, Henry G. 
Dooley. Samuel 
Flandrau, Charles E. 
Freeborn. William 
Hanson. D. M. 
Ludden. John D. 
Lowry, William D. 
Rollins, John 
Rolette, Joseph 
Setzer, Henry N. 
Stone, Lewis 
Tillotson, Benj. F. 
Thompson, C. W. 
Brisbin, John B., ) 
President, j 



COUNTY. 



Winona 

Dahkotah 

Scott 

Nicollet 

Goodhue 

Hennepin 

Chisago 

Olmsted 

Ramsey 

Pembina 

Washington 

Benton 

Fillmore 

Houston 

Ramsey 



POST-OFFICE. 



Winona 

Hastings 

Louisville 

Traverse d'Sioux 

Red Wing 

Minneapolis 

Taylor's Falls 

Rochester 

St. Anthony 

Pembina 

Stillwater 

Royal ton 

Richland 

Hokah 

St. Paul 



AGE CONDI'N. NATIVITY 



New York 

Minnesota 

Kentucky 

New York 

Ohio 

Maine 

Massachusetts 

Pennsylvania 

Maine 

Wisconsin 

Missouri 

New York 

Ohio 

Canada 

New York 



OCCUPATION. 



Farmer 

Merchant 

Farmer 

Lawyer 

Farmer 

Lawyer 

Lumberman 

Farmer 

Farmer 

Indian trader 

Lumberman 

Farmer 

Farmer 

Miller 

Lawyer 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 



NAMES. 



Boutillier, C. W. Le 
Bradlev, James T. 
Buck, C. F. 
Burdick. R. C. 
Cleaveland, Arba 
Covel, Wm. B. 
De La Vergne, A. F. 
Dunbar, Wm. F. 
Farnham, Sumner F. 
Galbraith, Thos. J. 
Gere. William B. 
Gibbs, 0. C. 
Grant, Charles 
Hartenbower, J. H. 
Haus, Reuben 
Holland, J. M. 
Hubbell, J. B. 
Hull. Samuel, 
Hunt, Thomas B. 
Ide. J. C. 
Jackman, H. A. 
Johnson, Parsons K. 
Kirkman, James 
Kuauft, Ferdinand 
Lott. B. W. 
McLeod. George A. 
Murphy. M. T. 
Nobles, Wm. H. 
Norris, James S. 
Pierce. T. W. 
Sturgis, William 
Taylor, Nathan C. D. 
Thompson, M. G. 
Thorndike. F. 
Van Yorhes, A. 
Wilkinson, Ross 
Wilson. John L. 
Gardiner, Charles, ) 
Speaker, j 



COUNTY. 


POST-OFFICE. 


Ramsey 


St. Anthony 


Hennepin 


Minneapolis 


Winona 


Winona 


Pembina 


Pembina 


Carver 


Chanhassen 


Mower 


Frankfort 


Le Sueur 


Le Sueur 


Houston 


Caledonia 


Kamsey 


St. Anthony 


Scott 


Shakopee 


Fillmore 


Chatfield 


Dahkotah 


St. Paul 


Pembina 


St. Joseph 


Olmsted 


Pleasant Grove 


Ramsey 


St. Paul 


Scott 


Shakopee 


Dodge 


Mantorville 


Fillmore 


Carimona 


Carver 


Chaska 


Rice 


Farribault 


Washington 


Stillwater 


Blue Earth 


Mankato 


Wabashaw 


Wabashaw 


Ramsey 


St. Paul 


Ramsey 


St. Paul 


Nicollet 


Traverse d'Sioux 


Dahkotah 


Mendota 


Ramsey 


St. Paul 


Washington 


Cottage Grove 


Hennepin 


Minneapolis 


Benton 


Little Falls 


Chisago 


Tavlor's Falls 


Houston 


Brownsville 


Hennepin 


Elm Creek 


Washington 


Stillwater 


Ramsey 


St. Paul 


?tearn< 


St. Cloud 


Goodhue 


Westervelt 



AGE CONDI'N. 



married 

married 

married 

single 

married 

single 

married 

married 

married 

married 

single 

married 

married 

married 

married 

single 

married 

married 

married 

married 

married 

married 

married 

married 

single 

married 

single 

married 

married 

married 

married 

single 

married 

married 

married 

married 

married 

married 



NATIVITY. 



IsFd of Jersey 

Connecticut 

New York 

Michigan 

Massachusetts 

New York 

New York 

Rhode Island 

Maine 

Pennsylvania 

Pennsylvania 

Vermont 

Red River, b.p. 

Kentucky 

Pennsylvania 

Maryland 

New York 

Pennsylvania 

Canada 

Vermont 

Maine 

Vermont 

Canada 

Prussia 

New Jersey 

Canada 

Ireland 

New York 

Maine 

Pennsylvania 
| Canada 
I N. Hampshire 
j New York 

Maine 
; Pennsylvania 

Pennsylvania 

Maine 

New York 



OCCUPATION. 



Physician 

Carriage m'kr 

Lawyer 

Indian trader 

Farmer 

Surveyor 

Shoemaker 

Farmer 

Lumberman 

Lawyer 

Farmer 

Farmer 

Indian trader 

Farmer 

Carpenter 

Lawyer 

Farmer 

Farmer 

Lawyer 

Mechanic 

Lumberman 

Tailor 

Blacksmith 

Carpenter 

Lawyer 

Merchant 

Farmer 

Miller 

Farmer 

Carpenter 

Farmer 

Lumberman 

Lawyer 

Farmer 

Gunsmith 

Farmer 

Architect 

Lawyer 



618 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

During the session of 1856, there was some conversa- 
tion about the division of the territory by an east and 
west line, and forming a new territory north of the 
forty-sixth degree of latitude, but no definite action was 
taken. But in the summer the question of a state 
organization was for the first time formally agitated in 
a series of earnest articles in the newspaper, from the 
pen of John E. Warren. 

This year was comparatively devoid of interest. The 
citizens of the territory were busily engaged in making 
claims in newly organized counties, and in enlarging the 
area of civilization. 

On the twelfth of June, several Ojibways entered the 
farm house of Mr. Whallon, who resided in Hennepin 
county, on the banks of the Minnesota, a mile below 
the Bloomington ferry. The wife of the farmer, a 
friend, and three children, besides a little Dahkotah girl, 
who had been brought up in the mission-house at Ka- 
posia, and was so changed in manners that her origin 
was scarcely perceptible, were sitting in the room when 
the Indians came in. Instantly seizing the little Indian 
maiden, they threw her out of the door, killed and 
scalped her, and fled before the men who were near by 
in the field could reach the house. 

The procurement of a state organization, and a grant 
of lands for railroad purposes, were the topics of politi- 
cal interest during the year 1857. 

The eighth Legislative Assembly convened at the 
capitbl on the seventh of January, and J. B. Brisbin 
was elected President of the Council, and J. W. Furber, 
Speaker of the House. 

A bill changing the seat of government to St. Peter, 
on the Minnesota river, passed the House. 



LONG SESSION OF COUNCIL. 619 

On Saturday, February twenty-eighth, Mr. Balcombe 
offered the following resolutions : — 

"Resolved, That the Hon. Joseph Rolette be very 
respectfully requested to report to the Council, Bill No. 
sixty-two Council File, entitled ' A Bill for the removal 
of the Seat of Government for the Territory of Min- 
nesota,' this day ; and that should said Rolette fail so to 
do before the adjournment of the Council this day, that 
the Hon. Mr. Wales, who stands next in the list of said 
Committee on Enrolled Bills, be respectfully requested 
to procure another truly enrolled cop}' of the said bill, 
and report the same to the Council on Monday next. 

"And be it further Resolved, That the secretary of the 
Council is very respectfully requested to give said bill, 
after it has been signed by the Speaker of the House, 
and President of the Council, to the Hon. Mr. Wales, 
to deliver to the Governor for his approval." 

Mr. Setzer, after the reading of the resolutions, moved 
a call of the Council, and Mr. Rolette was found to be 
absent. The chair ordered the sergeant-at-arms to 
report Mr. Rolette in his seat. Mr. Balcombe moved 
that further proceedings under the call be dispensed 
with, which did not prevail. From that time until the 
next Thursday afternoon, March the fifth, a period 
of one hundred and twenty-three hours, the Council re- 
mained in their chamber without recess. At that time 
a motion to adjourn prevailed. On Friday, another 
motion was made to dispense with the call of the Coun- 
cil, which did not prevail. On Saturday, the Council 
met, the president declared the call still pending. At 
seven and a half p. m., a committee of the House was 
announced. The chair ruled, that no communication 
from the House could be received while a call of the 



620 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Council was pending, and the committee withdrew. A 
motion was again made during the last night of the 
session, to dispense with all further proceedings under 
the call, which prevailed, with one vote only in the 
negative. 

Mr. Freeborn, from the committee on enrolled bills, 
made the following report : — 

u The Committee on Enrolled Bills would respectfully 
report, that owing to the absence of the chairman of 
this committee, Bill No. (62) sixty-two, Council File,, 
being a bill for the removal of the seat of government 
of the Territory of Minnesota, introduced by Mr. Lowry 
on the sixth of February, 1857, has not been reported 
by this committee back to the Council. Your com- 
mittee would further state that the above-named bill 
might have been reported back to the Council at this 
time, but that after examining the enrolled copy of said 
bill, which was delivered to this committee with the 
engrossed bill, by the secretary of the Council, in pre- 
sence of the enrolling clerk of the Council, and care- 
fully comparing the same, we find numerous errors in 
the enrolled copy — some portions of the engrossed bill 
being left out of the enrolled copy, and matter being 
inserted in the enrolled copy which is not in the en- 
grossed bill. Your committee cannot, therefore, report 
the said Bill No. 62, C. F., as correctly enrolled, but 
retain the same in our possession, subject to the order 
of the Council. 

" All which is respectfully submitted." 

Mr. Ludden moved that a committee be appointed to 
wait on the governor, and inquire if he had any fur- 
ther communication to make to the Council. 

Mr. Lowry moved a call of the Council, which was 



EXCITEMENT ON REMOVAL OF CAPITAL. 621 

ordered, and the roll being called, Messrs. Rolette, 
Thompson, and Tillotson were absent. 

At twelve o'clock at night the president resumed the 
chair, and announced that the time limited by law for 
the continuation of the session of the territorial legis- 
lature had expired, and he therefore declared the Coun- 
cil adjourned without day. 

The excitement on the capital question was intense, 
and it was a strange scene to see members of the Coun- 
cil, eating and sleeping in the hall of legislation for 
days, waiting for the sergeant-at-arms to report an ab- 
sent member in his seat. 

During the spring and early summer, the public mind 
was indignant at an atrocity perpetrated in the extreme 
south-western frontier of Minnesota, the recital of which 
causes the blood to curdle, and the mind to revert to 
the border scenes of the past century, which occurred 
in the valley of Wyoming. In the north-western corner 
of Iowa, a few miles from the Minnesota boundary, there 
is a lake known as Spirit Lake. In the spring of 

1856, persons from Red Wing had visited this place, 
and determined to lay off a town. In the winter of 

1857, there were six or seven log cabins on the borders 
of the lake. About fifteen or twenty miles north, in 
Minnesota, there was also a small place called Spring- 
field. 

For several years, Inkpadootah, a Wahpaykootay 
Dahkotah, had been roving with a few outlaws, being 
driven away from their own people by internal diffi- 
culties. These Indians were hunting in north-western 
Iowa, when one was bitten by a white man's dog, which 
he killed. The whites then proceeded to the Indian 
■camp, and disarmed them, but they soon supplied them- 



622 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

selves again. After this, they arrived on Sunday, the 
eighth of March, at Spirit Lake. They proceeded to 
a cabin, where only men dwelt, and asked for beef. 
Understanding, as they assert, that they had permission 
to kill one of the cattle, they did so, and commenced 
cutting it up, when one of the white men came out and 
knocked down the Dahkotah. For this act the settler 
was shot, and another one coming out of the cabin, he 
was also killed. Surrounding the house, the Indians 
now fired the thatched roof, and as the men ran out all 
were killed, making the whole number eleven. 

About the same time, the Indians went to the house 
of a frontiersman, by the name of Gardner, and de- 
manded food, and all the food in the house was given 
to them. The son-in-law, and another man, left to go 
and see if all was right at the neighbouring cabin, but 
they never came back. Toward night, excited by the 
blood they had been spilling through the day, they 
came back again to Mr. Gardner's house, and soon 
killed him, and despatching his wife, and two daugh- 
ters, and grandchildren, carried off Abby, the surviv- 
ing daughter. The next day, they continued their 
fiendish work, and brought into camp Mrs. Thatcher 
and Mrs. Noble. That day a man by the name of 
Markham visited the house of Gardner, and saw the 
dead bodies. Secreting himself till night, he came 
to the Springfield settlement in Minnesota, and re- 
ported what he had seen. Three miles above the 
Thatcher family on the lake, there lived a Mr. Marble. 

On Thursday, the twelfth of March, an Indian, who 
had been on friendly terms with Marble's family, called 
at his house, and (as near as Mrs. Marble, with her im- 
perfect knowledge of the language, could make out) 



SPIRIT LAKE AND SPRINGFIELD MASSACRE. 623 

told them that the white people below them on the 
Lake had been nippoed (killed) a day or two previously. 
This aroused the suspicion of the Marbles, and none the 
less that the great depth of the snow made it almost 
impossible to get out and ascertain the truth of the 
story. The next day (the thirteenth), quite early in 
the forenoon, four Indians came to Marble's house and 
were admitted. Their demeanour was so friendly as to 
disarm all suspicion. They proposed to swap rifles with 
Marble, and the terms were soon agreed upon. 

After the swap, the chief suggested that they should 
go out on the lake and shoot at a mark. Marble 
assented. After a few discharges they turned to come 
in the direction of the house, when the savages allowed 
Marble to go a few paces ahead, and immediately shot 
him down. Mrs. Marble, who was looking out of the 
cabin, saw her husband fall, and immediately ran to 
him. The Indians seized her and told her that they 
would not kill her, but would take her with them. 

They carried her in triumph to the camp, whither 
they had previously taken three other white women, 
Mrs. Noble, Mrs. Thatcher, and Miss Gardner. 

Inkpadootah and party now proceeded to Springfield, 
where they slaughtered the whole settlement, about 
the twenty-seventh of March. 'When the United States 
troops arrived from Fort Ridgely, they buried two bodies, 
and the volunteers from Iowa buried twenty-nine others. 
Besides these, others were missing. The outlaws, per- 
ceiving that the soldiers were in pursuit, made their 
escape. The four captive women were forced by day to 
carry heavy burdens through deep snow, and at night-fall 
they were made to cut wood and set up the tent, and, 
after dark, to be subject to the indignities that suggested 



^24 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

themselves to savages. When food began to fail, the 
white women subsisted on bones and feathers. 

Mrs. Thatcher was in poor health in consequence of 
the recent birth of a child, and she became burdensome. 
Arriving at the Big Sioux river, the Indians made a 
bridge by felling a tree on each side of the river bank. 
Mrs. Thatcher attempted to cross, but failed, and, in 
despair, refused to try again. One of the men took 
her by the hand, as if to help her, and, when about 
midway, pushed her into the stream. She swam to the 
shore, and they pushed her off, and then fired at her as 
if she was a target, until life was extinct. 

" In the early spring it was next to impossible to 
make any considerable efforts for their rescue ; and it 
was not known what direction the captors had taken. 
Time passed on. Two military expeditions reached the 
place where the massacre took place, but did nothing, 
except to bury the slain. Early in the month of May, 
two young men from Lac qui Parle, who had been taught 
by the mission to read and write, and whose mother is 
a member of our church, 1 while on their spring hunt, 
found themselves in the neighbourhood of Inkpadoota 
and his party. Having heard that they held some 
American women in captivity, the two brothers visited 
the camp, — though this was at some risk of their lives, 
since Inkpadootah's hand was now against every 
man, — and found the outlaws, and succeeded in bargain- 
ing for Mrs. Marble, whom they first took to their 
mother's tent," and then brought her to a trading-house 
at Lac qui Parle, when she was visited by those con- 
nected with the mission at Hazel wood, and clothed once 
more in civilized costume. On her arrival at the hotel 
at St. Paul, the citizens welcomed her, and presented 

1 Letter of Dr. Williamson. 



RESCUE OF WHITE WOMEN FROM*CAPTIVITY. 625 

her with a thousand dollars. The desire to rescue the 
two surviving white women now became intense. 

One night a good Indian, named Paul by the whites, 
an elder of the mission church, came into the mission- 
house and said : — 

" If the white chief tells me to go, I will £0." " I 
tell you to go," replied Mr. Flandrau, then Dahkotah 
Agent. With two companies he started next day, with 
a wagon and two horses, and valuable presents. After 
a diligent search the outlaws were found on the James 
river with a band of Yanktons. 

A few days before Mrs. Noble had been murdered, a 
Yankton, who had lost his legs by disease, had pur- 
chased the two women. One night Mrs. Noble was 
ordered to go out, and be subject to the w r ishes of the 
party. She refusing to go, a son of Inkpadootah dragged 
her out by the hair and killed her. The next morning 
a Dahkotah woman took Miss Gardner, the sole surviv- 
ing captive, to see the corpse, which had been horribly 
treated after death. 

Paul, by his perseverance and large presents, at length 
redeemed the captive, and she was brought to the mis- 
sion-house, and from thence she visited St. Paul, and 
was restored to her sister in Iowa. 

For some days previous to the first of July it had been 
reported that one of Inkpadoot all's sons was in a camp 
on the Yellow Medicine river. A message was sent to 
the agent, Flandrau, w^ho, with a detachment of soldiers 
from Fort Ridgely, and some Indian guides, soon arrived 
and surrounded the lodges. The alarm being given, 
Inkpadootah's son, said to have been the murderer of 
Mrs. Noble, ran from- his lodge followed by his wife. 
.He concealed himself for a short period in the brush by 

40 



626 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the water, but was soon ferreted out and shot by United 
States soldiers. 

The rest of the outlaws are said to be west of the 
Missouri, and that they may yet meet the punishment 
which they so richly deserve for their horrible barbarity, 
is the wish of every righteous man. 

On the twenty-third of February, 1857, an act passed 
the United States Senate, to authorize the people of 
Minnesota to form a constitution, preparatory to their 
admission into the Union on an equal footing with the 
original states. And at the close of the session another 
act passed, making a grant of land in alternate sections, 
to aid in the construction of certain railroads in the ter- 
ritory. 

Governor Gorman called a special session of the legis- 
lature, to take into consideration measures that would 
give efficiency to these acts. The extra session con- 
vened on April twenty-seventh, and a message was 
transmitted by Samuel Medary, 1 who had been appointed 
governor in the place of W. A. Gorman, whose term 
of office had expired. An act was passed to execute 
the trust created by Congress; and the lands, under 
certain conditions, were given to certain chartered rail- 
road companies. The extra session adjourned on the 
twenty-third of May ; and in accordance with the pro- 
visions of the enabling act of Congress, an election was 
held on the first Monday in June, for delegates to a con- 
vention which was to assemble at the capital on the 
second Monday in July. The election resulted, as was 
thought, giving a majority of delegates to the Republi- 
can party. 

At midnight previous to the day fixed for the meet- 

1 He acted as governor for a few months only. 



ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION. 627 

ing of the convention, the Eepublicans proceeded to 
the capitol, because the enabling act had not fixed at 
what hour on the second Monday the convention should 
assemble, and fearing that the Democratic delegates 
might anticipate them, and elect the officers of the 
body. A little before twelve, A. m., on Monday, the 
secretary of the territory entered the speaker's ros- 
trum, and began to call the body to order ; and at the 
same time a delegate, J. W. North, who had in his pos- 
session a written request from the majority of the dele- 
gates present, proceeded to do the same thing. The 
secretary of the territory put a motion to adjourn, 
and the Democratic members present voting in the 
affirmative, they left the hall. The Republicans, feel- 
ing that they were in the majority, remained, and in 
due time organized, and proceeded with the business 
specified in the enabling act, to form a constitution, and 
take all necessary steps for the establishment of a state 
government, in conformity with the Federal Constitu- 
tion, subject to the approval and ratification of the 
people of the proposed state. 

After several days the Democratic wing also organized 
in the Senate chamber at the capitol, and, claiming to 
be the true body, also proceeded to form a constitution. 
Both parties were remarkably orderly and intelligent, 
and everything was marked by perfect decorum. After 
they had been in session some weeks, moderate coun- 
sels prevailed, and a committee of conference was ap- 
pointed from each body, which resulted in both adopting 
the same constitution, on the twenty-ninth of August. 
According to the provision of the constitution, an election 
was held for state officers and the adoption of the con- 
stitution, on the second Tuesday, the thirteenth of Oc- 



628 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

tober. The constitution was adopted by almost a unani- 
mous vote. It provided that the territorial officers 
should retain their offices until the state was admitted 
into the Union, not anticipating the long delay which 
has been experienced. 

The first session of the state legislature commenced 
on the first Wednesday of December, at the capitol, in 
the city of St. Paul; and during the month elected 
Henry M. Eice and James Shields as their Representa- 
tives in the United States Senate. 

On the twenty-ninth of January, 1858, Mr. Douglas 
submitted a bill to the United States Senate, for the 
admission of Minnesota into the Union. On the first of 
February, a discussion arose on the bill, in which Sena- 
tors Douglas, Wilson, Gwin, Hale, Mason, Green, Brown, 
and Crittenden participated. Brown, of Mississippi, was 
opposed to the admission of Minnesota, until the Kansas 
question was settled. Mr. Crittenden, as a Southern 
man, could not endorse all that was said by the Senator 
from Mississippi ; and his words of wisdom and modera- 
tion during this day's discussion, are worthy of remem- 
brance. On April the seventh, the bill passed the 
Senate with only three dissenting votes ; in a short time 
the House of Representatives agreed to the action of the 
Senate, one hundred and fifty-eight out of one hundred 
and ninety-six votes being cast in favor of admission, 
and on May 11th the President approved the Act, and 
Minnesota became one of the United States of America. 



FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE NEW STATE. 629 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

FINANCIAL EMBARRASSMENT FROM 1858 TO 1861, AND EDU- 
CATIONAL POLICY. 

The transition of Minnesota, from Territorial depend- 
ency, to the position of an organized and self-support- 
ing Commonwealth, equal in dignity and privilege with 
the then thirty-one United States of America, occurred 
under adverse circumstances. 

The great commercial cities of the Atlantic coast 
were suffering from financial embarrassment, and the 
stringency of the money market seriously cramped 
those who had hoped to develop the resources of a 
fertile and healthful State, by the aid of borrowed 
capital. 

The exigencies of the pioneer settlers were such, 
that they were ready to lend a willing ear to any one 
who would present plans, ostensibly for the relief of a 
community that was literally without money. 

By an act of Congress approved March fifth, 1857, 
lands had been granted to the Territory amounting to 
4,500,000 acres, for the construction of a system of 
railways. 

Immediately a number of shrewd and energetic men 
combined to procure the control of the land grant, 
and during an extra session of the Legislature an act 
was passed on May twenty-second, 1857, giving the 



630 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

entire Congressional grant to certain chartered railroad 
companies. 

A few months only elapsed, before the citizens dis- 
covered that those who obtained the lands had neither 
the money nor the credit to carry on these great 
internal improvements. In the winter of 1858 the 
Legislature again listened to the siren voices of the 
railway corporations, until their words to some mem- 
bers seemed like " apples of gold in pictures of silver," 
and another act was passed, submitting to the people 
an amendment to the Constitution, which provided for 
the loan of the public credit to the land-grant railroad 
companies to the amount of $5,000,000, upon condi- 
tion that a certain amount of labour on the projected 
roads was performed. The time specified in the act 
for the voting of the people upon the amendment was 
April fifteenth. 

Some of the more prudent citizens saw in this mea- 
sure a "cloud no larger than a man's hand" which 
would lead to a terrific storm, and a large public meet- 
ing was convened at the Capitol and addressed by Ex- 
Governor Gorman, D. A. Robertson, William R. Mar- 
shall, and others, deprecating the engrafting of such 
a peculiar amendment upon the Constitution; but the 
people would not listen, their hopes and happiness 
seemed to be bound up in railway corporations, and on 
the appointed day of election 25,023 votes were cast 
in favour of, while only 6733 were deposited against, 
the amendment. 

Before the amendment was ratified, the Constitution 
prohibited the State from loaning its credit to any in- 
dividual or corporation; but by its adoption, section 10, 
article 9, was made to read as follows: 



AMENDMENT OF THE CREDIT ARTICLE. 631 

"The credit of this State shall never be given or 
loaned in aid of any individual, association, or corpo- 
ration; except that for the purpose of expediting the 
construction of the lines of railroads, in aid of which 
the Congress of the United States has granted lands 
to the Territory of Minnesota, the Governor shall cause 
to be issued and delivered to each of the companies in 
which said grants are vested by the Legislative As- 
sembly of Minnesota, the special bonds of the State, 
bearing an interest of seven per cent, per annum, pay- 
able semi-annually in the city of New York, as a loan 
of public credit, to an amount not exceeding twelve 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or an aggregate 
amount to all of said companies not exceeding five 
millions of dollars, in manner following, to wit," etc. 

The good sense of the people soon led them to 
amend this article, and on November sixth, 1860, the 
section was made to read as follows: 

"The credit of the State shall never be given or 
loaned in aid of any individual association or corpora- 
tion; nor shall there be any further issue of bonds de- 
nominated Minnesota State Railroad Bonds, under what 
purports to be an amendment to section ten (10) of 
article nine (9; of the Constitution, adopted April fif- 
teenth, eighteen hundred and fifty -eight, which is 
hereby expunged from the Constitution, saving, ex- 
cepting and reserving to the State, nevertheless, all 
rights, remedies, and forfeitures accruing under said 
amendment." 

The first State Legislature had assembled on December 
second, 1857, before the formal admission of Minnesota 
into the Union, and on March twenty-fifth, 1858, ad- 
journed until June second, when it again met. 



632 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Hon. H. H. Sibley, who had been declared Governor 
after the election of the previous October, on the next 
day delivered his inaugural address. 

His term of office was arduous, growing out of 
the peculiar position of the State in consequence of 
her loan of credit to the railway corporations. On 
August fourth, 1858, he expressed his determination 
not to deliver any State bonds to the railway com- 
panies, unless they would give first mortgage bonds 
with priority of lien upon their lands, roads, and fran- 
chises in favour of the State. One of the companies 
applied for a mandamus from the Supreme Court of 
the State, to compel the issue of the bonds without the 
restriction of the Governor. 

In November the court, Judge Flandrau dissenting,, 
ordered the Governor to issue State bonds as soon as 
the company delivered their first mortgage bonds, as 
provided by the Constitution. 

But, as was to be expected, bonds put forth under 
such peculiar circumstances were not sought after by 
capitalists. After over $2,000,000 of bonds had been 
issued, not an iron rail had been laid, and only about 
250 miles of grading were completed. In his annual 
message to the second Legislature in December, 1859, 
Governor Sibley said of the loan of State credit : 

« i regret to be obliged to state that the measure ha& 
proved a failure, and has by no means accomplished 
what was hoped from it, either in providing means fo 
the issue of a safe currency, or of aiding the con - 
panies in the completion of the work upon the road©. ' 

Notwithstanding the pecuniary complications of the 
State during Governor Sibley's administration, the 
Legislature did not entirely forget that there were 



ELECTION OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 635 

some interests of more importance than railway con- 
struction, and on August second, 1858, largely through 
the influence of the late John D. Ford, M.D., a public- 
spirited citizen of Winona, an act was passed for the 
establishment of three normal schools for the training 
of public school teachers. 

In the month of June, 1859, an important route of 
travel was opened between the Mississippi and Red 
River of the North. 

The enterprising firm of J. C. Burbank & Co. having 
secured from Sir George Simpson, the governor of the 
Hudson's Bay Company, the transportation of their 
supplies by way of St. Paul, which had hitherto been 
carried by tedious and tortuous routes from York River 
or Lake Superior, purchased a little steamer that had 
been built by Anson North rup and was on the Red 
River of the North, and commenced the carrying of 
goods and passengers by land to Breckinridge, and 
from thence by water to Pembina. 

At an election held in the fall of 1859, Alexander 
Ramsey was elected Governor, and in his inaugural 
message to the second Legislature, on January second, 
1860, he devotes a large space to the complications 
arising from the loan of the State credit to railroad 
companies. He argued that something should be done 
relative to the outstanding $2,300,000 of State rail- 
road bonds, and suggested several methods which might 
be adopted for withdrawing them. In the course of 
his argument he remarked : " It is extremely desirable 
to remove as speedily as possible so vexing a question 
from our State politics, and not allow it to remain for 
years to disturb our elections, perhaps to divide our 
people into bond and anti-bond parties, and introduce 



634 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

annually into our legislative halls an element of dis- 
cord and possibly of corruption, all to end just as 
similar complications in other States have ended : the 
men who will have gradually engrossed the possession 
of all the bonds, at the cost of a few cents on the dol- 
lar, will knock year after year at the door of the Legis- 
lature for their payment in full; the press will be sub- 
sidized ; the cry of repudiation will be raised ; all the 
ordinary and extraordinary means of procuring legis- 
lation in doubtful cases will be freely resorted to ; until 
finally the bondholders will pile up almost fabulous 
fortunes. * * * It is assuredly true that the present 
time is, of all others, alike for the present bondholders 
and the people of the State, the very time to arrange, 
adjust, and settle these unfortunate and deplorable 
railroad and loan complications." 

Initiatory steps were taken during the session of the 
second Legislature for securing an efficient system of 
public instruction. An act for the regulation of the 
State University, in place of the Territorial University, 
was passed ; and in a report of the joint committee of 
Senate and House of Representatives on the University, 
largely written by the recently elected head of the in- 
stitution, the following views were presented: 

" A University is necessarily of slow development. 
It is the outgrowth of the common school system. 
Ten years must sometimes elapse before there is suffi- 
cient strength to make a good beginning, and then in 
twice ten years its influence will begin to have its due 
effect. A University in a new and sparsely settled 
State must not precede, but succeed the common 
schools. When these nurseries of education are fairly 
established, and begin to have their full measure of in- 



REPORT ON THE UNIVERSITY. 635 

fluence, then follows a demand for a style of education 
which no one locality can afford to give, and which it 
is the peculiar province of the University to furnish. 
By a premature organization of State institutions, the 
seeds of decay have been sown in the beginning. In- 
cipient consumption takes place, and in a decade of 
years they dwindle down to large infant schools, or at 
best to academies no more respectable than can be 
found in other localities of the State. 

" From a provision in the enactment of the present 
session in relation to donations to the State University, 
the committee are very hopeful of results. 

u The universities of our Western States have gen- 
erally excited but little interest among the friends of 
education. The Legislature has been the only ' alma 
mater' to which they could look for nutrition, and too 
often they have been made to feel, in the literal 
signification of the word, that they were ' alumni/ 
Good men, fearing constant and hasty changes in policy 
by succeeding Legislatures, have preferred to endow 
institutions of learning under the supervision of some 
branch of the church. Alreadv in our Commonwealth, 

«/ 7 

Baldwin, the distinguished manufacturer of locomo- 
tives, and public-spirited citizen of Philadelphia, has 
given thousands of dollars to an institution of learn- 
ing at St. Paul, and Hamline, an honored bishop of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, has given a large sum 
to the college at Red Wing. 

" Such security is given to the philanthropist, in the 
fifth section of the act providing for the government 
and regulation of the University of Minnesota, that it 
is believed that in the course of three or four years, 
the State may expect similar endowments from indi- 



636 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

viduals who love to build up establishments for sound 
learning, the greatest ornaments a republic can possess. 

" Indeed, we do not see, with the guards thrown 
around donations by the provisions of the sections 
alluded to, why men of every school of philosophy, 
and shade of religious belief, should not become zealous 
supporters of one great university, which shall be 
known far and wide as the University of the State. 

" The framer of the Declaration of Independence, 
Thomas Jefferson, at the close of his life, looked back 
with the greatest pleasure to the share he had in the 
foundation of the University of Virginia, and he de- 
sired that a record of the fact should be engraved on 
the marble that marks his grave. There can be no« 
doubt that it is a wise policy for every State so to con- 
ciliate all of her best citizens as to enlist their sympa- 
thies in behalf of her eleemosynary institutions. 

" Nothing so cultivates a proper State pride as an in- 
stitution of learning, in which the youth of the State 
can be educated, and feel that their advantages have 
been inferior to none. 

" Time, toil, and great patience will be needed to per- 
fect a university system. The oaks of California, ma- 
jestic in appearance now, required centuries for de- 
velopment after the acorn was buried in the soil. For 
five years nothing may be done by the Regents, which 
is visible or tangible, and yet these silent and invisible 
processes are necessary to permanent growth. 

" The general government for years employed skilful 
engineers in throwing vast rocks into the ocean, at the 
entrance of Delaware Bay. To the class of men who 
looked for results in a day, it seemed a foolish and ex- 
pensive work, but little better than c building castles 



MEMORIAL FOR GRANT OF LAND. 637 

in the air;' but now that these piles of rock have 
reached the surface of the waters, and are surmounted 
by massive walls behind which ships nestle in the 
fiercest storm, with the security of the brood under 
the shadow of the mother's wing, the humblest mari- 
ner appreciates the work, and as he sails along, prays 
' God save the Commonwealth.' Let us lay the foun- 
dation stones of the University, and the generation 
which follow us, when they behold the superstructure, 
will be sure to bless the foresight and the persevering 
labour which has secured to them the priceless boon of 
a complete education ; a breakwater against the waves 
of anarchy, superstition, and ' science falsely so called.' " 

For the sake of economy, as well as procuring unity 
of development during the State's infancy, an act was 
passed by the second Legislature making the Chan- 
cellor of the University also Superintendent of Public 
Instruction. 

At the first meeting of the Regents of the State 
University, on April fifth, 1860, the following memo- 
rial was adopted, relative to a grant of land, which, 
after long delay, was secured : 

"His Excellency Alex. Ramsey, Gov. of Minnesota : 

" Dear Sir, — In February, 1851, the Territorial Leg- 
islature passed an act incorporating ' a Territorial In- 
stitution of learning under the name of the University 
of Minnesota,' to which were granted ' the proceeds 
of all lands that may hereafter be granted by the 
United States to the Territory for the support of a 
university.' On February nineteenth, of the same 
year, it was enacted by Congress: 

"'That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he 



638 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

hereby is, authorized and directed to set apart and re- 
serve from sale, out of the public lands, within the 
Territory of Minnesota, to which the Indian title has 
been or may be extinguished, and not otherwise ap- 
propriated, a quantity of land not exceeding two entire 
townships, for the use and support of a University in 
said Territory, and for no other use and purpose what- 
ever, to be located in legal subdivisions of not less 
than one entire section.' 

" Shortly after this Congressional enactment the Re- 
gents of the Territorial University organized, obtained 
a site, erected a building thereon, and commenced in- 
struction therein, — the first instance on record of a 
Territorial University going into operation at so early 
a period in the history of a Territory. 

" The Regents also, with the approbation of the Sec- 
retary of the Interior, proceeded to select a large por- 
tion of the lands granted for the Territorial institution. 
Subsequently they erected a costly edifice and mort- 
gaged it, by virtue of a power granted by the Terri- 
torial Legislature of 1856, for $15,000, to secure the 
payment of certain bonds, and by another act passed 
in 1858, on the eighth day of March, before the ad- 
mission of Minnesota into the Union, mortgaged lands 
that had been selected by the Regents, to secure the 
payment of a further sum of $40,000 borrowed by the 
Regents for the Territorial institution. 

"Heretofore Congress has made grants to Territories 
not having organized any Universities, and the lands 
being free from all prospective incumbrances, the En- 
abling Acts of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa have 
used the following similar phraseology : 

" 'Seventy-two sections of land, set apart and reserved 



MEMORIAL FOR GRANT OF LAND. 639 

for the use and support of a University by an Act of 

Congress approved on day of are hereby 

granted and conveyed to the State, to be appropriated 
solely to the use and support of such University in 
such manner as the Legislature may prescribe.' 

" The condition of Minnesota being different, so far as 
a Territorial University was concerned, we expect and 
find different language in the Enabling Act. There is 
no reference, as in acts alluded to, to previous reserves, 
but it is prospective. It says, if certain provisions are 
accepted: 

" * That seventy-two sections of land shall be set apart 
and reserved for the use and support of a State Uni- 
versity to be selected by the Governor of said State, sub- 
ject to the approval of the Commissioner of the Gen- 
eral Land Office.' 

" Although a Territorial University had been in ex- 
istence for years, and the Regents had selected lands, 
there is no reference thereto, but the language pre- 
scribes selections for a future State University. 

u Certainly it was not the intention of Congress to 
turn over the debts and prospectively encumbered 
lands of an old and badly managed Territorial institu- 
tion, but to give the State, that was to be, a grant for 
a State University, free from all connections with Ter- 
ritorial organizations. 

" Will you, therefore, take the steps indicated in the 
Enabling Act, and appoint, at an early day, some one 
to select two townships of land for the State Univer- 
sity, incorporated by the last Legislature. 

" In behalf of the Regents of the University of the 
State of Minnesota, 

" E. D. Neill, Chancellor." 



<640 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

On March twenty-third, I860, the first white per- 
son 1 executed under the laws of the State was 
hung, and, from the fact that the one who suffered 
the penalty was a woman, attracted considerable 
attention. 

Michael Bilansky died on March eleventh, 1859, 
and upon examination was found to have been poisoned. 
Anna, his fourth wife, was tried for the offence, found 
guilty, and on December third, 1859, sentenced to be 
hung. The opponents of capital punishment secured 
the passage of an act by the Legislature to meet her case, 
which was vetoed by the Governor as unconstitutional. 
Two days before the execution the unhappy woman 
requested her spiritual adviser to write to her father 
and mother in North Carolina, but not to state the 
cause of her death. The scaffold was erected in St. 
Paul near the county jail. 

The third State Legislature assembled on January 
eighth, and adjourned on March eighth, 1861. As 
Minnesota was the first State which received 1280 
acres of land in each township for school purposes, the 
Governor, in his annual message, occupied several pages 
in an able and elaborate argument as to the best 
methods of guarding and selling the school lands, and 
protecting the school fund. 

The comprehensive views set forth made a deep 
impression, and were embodied in appropriate legisla- 
tion, and the School Land policy of the State has 
called forth the highest commendation from educators 
in other States. 

The educational policy of the State was freely dis- 

1 A.n Indian was hung in December, 1851. See p= 611. 



OFFICE OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 641 

■cussed during the third session of the Legislature. The 
Senate Committee, in presenting a bill prescribing the 
salary of Chancellor of the University, ex-officio Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction, made the following 
report : 

" That in Wisconsin the Chancellor of the University 
receives for services rendered to the State the annual 
compensation of three thousand dollars, while the State 
Superintendent of Public Instruction, with an assistant 
and one clerk, receives thirty-six hundred dollars ; also 
that in Iowa the Chancellor of the State University 
receives two thousand dollars, and the office of Public 
Instruction twenty-four hundred dollars. Our own 
State, profiting by the counsels of experienced edu- 
cators in other States, has recognized the unity of 
educational interests, and the fact that there must be 
a thorough and efficient system of primary, secondary, 
and high schools before there can be a proper university, 
and therefore the last Legislature made the Chancellor 
of the State University ex-officio Superintendent of 
Public Instruction. Thus one of the most delicate and 
responsible departments of the State government is 
entrusted to one who is presumed to be and ought to 
be acquainted with the educational systems of the past 
and present, and who is also lifted above the din of 
party strife and the influences which so often lead to a 
caucus nomination and an election by a political party, 
or their representatives assembled in joint conven- 
tion." 

The views of the Committee were clamorously assailed 
by a small minority. That no personal prejudices against 
the head of the educational system might endanger the 
important cause of public instruction, the Chancellor of 

41 



642 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



the University resigned. 1 The result of the discussion 
was that a law was passed creating a separate office 
of public instruction, and in joint convention the Legis- 
lature, five members only dissenting, elected the late 
Chancellor of the University as the head of the new 
office. The Regents of the University at their next 
meeting having requested Mr. Neill to withdraw his 
resignation, he again became chancellor, and so con- 



i « St. Paul, Feb. 25, 1861. 
"Hon. Alex. Ramsey: 

"Dear Sir: — In tendering my 
resignation as Chancellor of the 
University of Minnesota, it is proper 
that a brief allusion should be made 
in relation to my connection with the 
educational affairs of the State. 

" In the year 1858, during the 
administration of your predecessor, 
and at the instance of Hon. H. M. 
Eice, I was elected chancellor. After 
several weeks of deliberation I ac- 
cepted the office ; for although I dis- 
covered that by poor management 
the institution had incurred a heavy 
debt by the erection of a building in 
advance of the wants of the insti- 
tution, yet I supposed that by strict 
watchfulness the debt might in years 
be liquidated, and the University 
serve its purpose at its proper time. 

The last Legislature repealed the 
old charter of the Territorial Univer- 
sity, and passed a new act by which 
the old Regents as well as myself 
were displaced. They also enacted 
that the chancellor under the new 
arrangement should be ex-officio State 
Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion. The new Board, with one ex- 
ception, were of different political 
opinions from a majority of the old 



Board, but at their first meeting 
they re-elected me chancellor. 

" The action of the last Legislature 
commended itself to me, for it made 
a unit of educational interests too 
often separated. Believing that a 
State University should be kept in 
the closest sympathy with the normal 
and public schools, and that there 
never could be a 'university worthy 
of the name unless the public schools 
were made efficient, I entered upon 
the duties of the office with enthu- 
siasm, and the hearty ' God-speed,' 
as I supposed, of men of all creeds 
and parties. The correspondence on 
file in the office gives abundant evi- 
dence that the position has not been 
a sinecure. But a respectable number 
of the present Legislature desire to 
modify the system lately inaugu- 
rated, and which has been com- 
mended by distinguished educators 
abroad, and bring the office of Su- 
perintendent of Public Instruction 
nearer to political influences. In 
order that they may have no ob- 
stacles to the reconstruction of the 
educational system as their wisdom 
and matured experience may sug- 
gest, I think it better that I should 
retire. 

" Since 1858 I have performed the 



UNIVERSITY CHANCELLORSHIP. 



643 



tinued until, during his absence in the public service, 
his office was vacated by legislation. 



duties of the chancellorship, and 
since March, 1860, those of the 
State superintendence, without any 
compensation, and have been obliged 
to furnish the office with desks, 
postage, stationery, and a part of 
the time employ a clerk, and also 
pay all my travelling expenses while 
in the service of the State. 

" By law the Legislature is re- 
quired to provide suitable compen- 
sation, and I have no doubt that if 
this Legislature, owing to the extreme 
poverty of the State, fail to remu- 



nerate me for the services performed 
and money expended in behalf of 
the Commonwealth, that the day will 
come when I will be paid in full, 
with interest. Assure the .Regents 
of my high personal regard, and that, 
while no longer holding any official 
connection, I am still, as ever, ready 
to co-operate in any movement that 
will tend to give our State a name 
for intelligence. 
" Yours truly, 

"Edw. D. Neill." 






644 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTEE XXX. 

Minnesota's part in suppressing slaveholders' rebellion: 
occurrences oe 1861. 

The people of Minnesota had not been as excited 
as those of the Atlantic States relative to the ques- 
tions that were discussed previous to the presidential 
election of November, 1860. A majority had calmly 
declared their preference for Abraham Lincoln as 
President of the republic. 

The sources of the Mississippi River being in the 
State, its waters, after rolling by the capital, also wash 
the borders of the former slave States of Missouri, 
Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana, and 
passing the city of New Orleans, are lost in the Gulf 
of Mexico. Living upon the banks of the same river, 
in the summer-time, the slaveholder would leave his 
plantation and breathe the bracing atmosphere of the 
valley of the Upper Mississippi, and while he dis- 
covered that the citizens of Minnesota, with but few 
exceptions, considered the holding of persons of Afri- 
can descent in slavery as a foul blot upon the repu- 
tation of States that belonged to a so-called free re- 
public, yet he was treated with kindness, and was 
convinced that there was no disposition upon the part 
of the inhabitants to use unlawful measures for the 
abolition of slavery. 



ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER. 645 

But the blood of her quiet and intelligent population 
was stirred on the morning of April fourteenth, 1861, 
by the intelligence communicated in the daily papers 
of the capital, that the insurgents of South Carolina 
had bombarded Fort Sumter, and that after a gallant 
resistance of thirty-four hours, General Anderson and 
the few soldiers of his command had been obliged 
to haul down their country's flag and evacuate the 
fort. 

The sad, thoughtful countenances of the congrega- 
tions worshipping in the churches, the groups of earnest 
men talking at the corners of the streets on that event- 
ful Sunday, indicated their conviction that the existence 
of the nation was imperilled, and that the honour of 
the flag must be sustained by the expenditure of life 
and much treasure. 

Governor Ramsey was in Washington at this period, 
and on Sunday called upon the President of the re- 
public with two other citizens from Minnesota, and 
was the first of the State governors to tender the 
services of the people he represented in defence of 
the republic. 

The offer of a regiment was accepted, and the Gov- 
ernor sent a dispatch to Lieutenant-governor Donnelly, 
which caused the issuing on Tuesday, the sixteenth, of 
the following proclamation: "Whereas, the govern- 
ment of the United States in the due enforcement of 
the laws has for several months past been resisted by 
armed organizations of citizens in several of the South- 
ern States, who precipitating the country into revolu- 
tion, have seized upon and confiscated the property of 
the nation to the amount of many millions of dollars; 
have taken possession of its forts and arsenals; have 



646 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

fired upon its flag, and at last consummating their 
treason, have, under circumstances of peculiar indignity 
and humiliation, assaulted and captured a Federal fort, 
occupied by Federal troops. And whereas, all these 
outrages, it is evident, are to be followed by an at- 
tempt to seize upon the national capital and the offi- 
cers and archives of the government. And whereas, 
the President of the United States, recurring in this 
extremity to the only resource left him, the patriot- 
ism of a people who through three great wars, and 
all the changes of eighty-five years, have ever proved 
true to the cause of law, order and free institutions, 
has issued a requisition to the governors of the seve- 
ral States for troops to support the government. 

■" Now therefore, in pursuance of law and of the re- 
quisition of the President of the United States, I do 
hereby give notice that volunteers will be received at 
the city of St. Paul for one regiment of infantry, com- 
posed of ten companies, each of sixty-four privates, 
one captain, two lieutenants, four sergeants, four cor- 
porals, and one bugler. The volunteer companies al- 
ready organized, upon complying with the foregoing 
requirements as to numbers and officers, will be en- 
titled to be first received. 

" The term of service will be three months, unless 
sooner discharged. Volunteers will report them- 
selves to the adjutant-general, at the capital, St. 
Paul, by whom orders will at once be issued, giving 
all the necessary details as to enrollment and organ- 
ization." 

Business during the week was almost suspended. 
The national flag displayed over the stores and the 
roofs of private residences evinced that there was a 



TROOPS QUICKLY RAISED. 64f 

determination to preserve what, with all of its blem- 
ishes, was still the best of earthly governments. 

All political party ties were obliterated, and the 
public meetings at the capital and at St. Anthony, 
Minneapolis, Red Wing, Winona, and in all the prin- 
cipal towns, indicated a surprising unanimity and re- 
solve to use every effort to conquer the slaveholders' 
rebellion. 

Under the call issued by the lieutenant-governor, 
acting in the absence of the Governor, recruiting was 
begun with alacrity. On Monday morning, the six- 
teenth, companies of the artillery of the regular army 
arrived at St. Paul from Fort Ridgley in charge of 
Major Pemberton, hastening to Washington to aid in 
protection of the capital ; but this officer, before he 
reached the destination, resigned his command, and, 
although a native of one of the free States, offered his 
sword in defence of the confederacy of slave States. 

The first company raised under the call of the State 
was composed of the most energetic of the young men 
of St. Paul, and its captain was the esteemed William 
H. Acker, who had been the adjutant-general of the 
State militia. Other companies quickly followed in 
tendering their services. 

On the last Monday of April a camp for the 1st 
Regiment was opened at Fort Snelling, and Captain 
Anderson D. Nelson, U. S. A., in two or three days 
mustered in the companies, and on the twenty-seventh 
of the month Adjutant-General John B. Sanborn, in 
behalf of Governor Ramsey, ex-qfficio commander-in- 
chief of State troops, issued the following order : 

" The commander-in-chief expresses his gratification 
at the prompt response to the call of the President of 



648 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the United States upon the militia of Minnesota, and 
his regret that under the present requisition for only 
ten companies it is not possible to accept the services 
of all the companies offered. 

" The following companies, under the operation of 
General Order No. 1, have been accepted : Company B r 
2d Regiment, Capt. Lester ; Company A, 6th Regiment, 
Capt. Pell ; Company A, 7th Regiment, Capt. Colville \ 
Company A, 8th Regiment, Capt. Dike ; Company A, 
13th Regiment, Capt. Adams; Company A, 16th Regi- 
ment, Capt. Putnam; Company A, 17th Regiment, Capt. 
Morgan; Company A, 2:3d Regiment, Capt. Wilkin; 
Company B, 23d Regiment, Capt. Acker ; Company A, 
25th Regiment, Capt. Broomley. Each officer and 
private is recommended to provide himself with a 
blanket. Captains of the above companies will report 
their respective commands to the adjutant-general at 
Fort Snelling. 

" The commander-in-chief recommends the com- 
panies not enumerated above to maintain their organi- 
zation and perfect their drill, and that patriotic citizens 
throughout the State continue to enroll themselves and 
be ready for any emergency." 

More companies having offered than were necessary 
to fill the quota of the 1st Regiment, on May third 
the Governor sent a telegram to the President offering 
a second regiment. 

The authorities at Washington were soon convinced 
of the magnitude of the rebellion, and on May seventh 
Mr. Cameron, secretary of war, sent the following 
telegram to Governor Ramsey: 

" It is decidedly preferable that all the regiments 
mustered into the service of the government from your 



FLAG PRESENTATION. 649' 

State not already actually sent forward should be mus- 
tered into service for three years or during the war. 
If any persons belonging to the regiments already 
mustered for three months, but not yet actually sent 
forward, should be unwilling to serve for three years 
or during the war, could not their places be filled by 
others willing to serve?" 

On May eleventh Lieutenant-governor Donnelly 
telegraphed to Governor Ramsey, then in Washington 
on official business : " The entire 1st Regiment, by 
its commissioned officers, is this day tendered to the 
President for three years or during the war. The men 
will be mustered in to-day by Capt. Nelson. In case 
of deficiency in the ranks, what course would you re- 
commend ? Answer." 

The same day the Governor replied: "Adjutant- 
General Thomas authorizes me to say that Captain 
Nelson may muster in Colonel Gorman's regiment at 
once for three years or during the war. Do this at 
once under dispatch of May seventh." 

The ladies of St. Paul having purchased a hand- 
some silk flag for the regiment, on May twenty-fifth 
they came to receive the present. After a six miles' 
march from Fort Snelling, the regiment arrived in the 
suburbs of the city about 10 o'clock in the morning. 
Before they reached the capitol the grounds surround- 
ing and adjacent streets were crowded with spectators. 
The troops having been formed in hollow square in 
front of the building, the wife of the Governor appeared 
on the steps with the flag in her hand, and Captain 
'Stansbury, of U. S. A. Topographical Engineers, made 
the presentation speech in behalf of the ladies, after 
which Colonel Gorman replied most appropriately. 



650 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

On June fourteenth, the Governor received a dis- 
patch from the secretary of war ordering the regiment 
to Washington. Messengers were immediately sent by 
Colonel Gorman to the companies temporarily garrison- 
ing Forts Ripley and Ridgley to report at Fort Snelling. 

On the twenty-first, at an early hour they embarked 
in the steamers Northern Belle and War Eagle. 1 Before 
marching out of the fort to the boats, their chaplain 
delivered the following address : 

"Soldiers of Minnesota! This is not the hour for 
many words. The moment your faces are turned 
toward the South you assume a new attitude. Gray- 
haired sires, venerable matrons, young men and fair 
maidens will look upon you with pride as you glide 
by their peaceful homes. From week to week they 
will eagerly search the newspapers to learn your posi- 
tion and condition. 

" To-day the whole State view you as representative 
men, and you no doubt realize that the honour of our 
Commonwealth is largely entrusted to your keeping. 

" Your errand is not to overturn, but to uphold the 
most tolerant and forbearing government on earth. 

1 Staff Officers. Jacob H. Stewart, Surgeon. Pris- 

"Willis A. Gorman, Colonel. Promo- oner of war at Bull Eun, July 1861. 

ted to Brigadier-General by advice of Paroled at Kichmond. 

General Winfield Scott, Oct. 7, 1861. Charles W. Le Boutillier, Assistant- 
Stephen Miller, Lieutenant-Col- Surgeon. Prisoner of war at Bull 

onel. Made Colonel of 7th Kegi- Run. Surgeon 9th Begiment. Died 

ment, Aug. 1862. April 1863. 

William H. Dike, Major. Re- Edward D. Neill, Chaplain. Re- 
signed Oct. 22, 1861. signed July 13, 1862, and commis- 
William B. Leach, Adjutant. Made sioned by President Lincoln as Hos- 

€aptain and A. A.-G. Feb. 23, 1862. pital Chaplain U. S. A. In 1864 

Mark W. Downie, Quartermaster, resigned, and commissioned as one 

Promoted Captain Company B, July of the secretaries to President. 

16, 1861. 



DEPARTURE OF FIRST REGIMENT. 651 

You go to war with misguided brethren, not with 
wrathful, but with mourning hearts. Your demeanour 
from the day of enlistment shows that you are fit for 
something else than ' treason, stratagem, and spoils/ 

" To fight for a great principle is a noble work. We 
are all erring and fallible men ; but the civilized world 
feel that you are engaged in a just cause, which God 
will defend. 

" In introducing myself to you, I would say, I come 
not to command, but to be a friend, and to point to you 
the ' Friend of friends,' who sticketh closer than a brother, 
who pities when no earthly eye can pity, and who can 
save when no earthly arm can save. 

" As far as in me lies, I am ready to make known 
the glad tidings of the gospel, the simple but sublime 
truth as it is in Christ Jesus. The religion I shall in- 
culcate will make you self-denying, courageous, cheerful 
here, and happy hereafter. 

" Soldiers ! if you would be obedient to God, you must 
"honour him who has been ordained to lead you forth. 
The colonel's will must be your will. If, like the Roman 
centurion, he says, ' go,' go you must. If he says 6 come,' 
come you must. God grant you all the Hebrew's endur- 
ing faith, and you will be sure to have the Hebrew's 
valor. Now with the Hebrew benediction I close. 

" The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord 
make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto 
you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and 
give you peace. Amen !" 

At 7.30 a.m. the troops arrived at the upper landing 
of St. Paul, and amid the tears and cheers of its citizens, 
marched through the city to the lower landing, and 
again embarked for the seat of war. 



652 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

While this regiment did not contain any braver or 
better men than those which were subsequently raised,, 
yet because it was the First, and also the only one, from 
Minnesota, in the Army of the Potomac engaged in de- 
fence of the national capital, its course during the war 
was watched with deep interest. Their journey to Wash- 
ington so soon after the call for troops, and their fine, 
healthful appearance, were commended by the public 
press. 

The Chicago Tribune, June twenty-third, said : " Gal- 
lant Minnesota deserves high credit for her noble sons 
and their appearance yesterday. They have enjoyed in 
their make-up that rare and excellent process of selec- 
tion and culling from the older States which has thrown 
into the van of civilization the hardy lumbermen and 
first settlers of the wilds. There are few regiments we 
ever saw that can compete in brawn and muscle with 
these Minnesotians, used to the axe, the rifle, the oar r 
the setting pole, and thus every way splendid material 
for soldiers." 

Another paper of the same city, in an editorial with 
the caption "Northern Hive," thus descants: "The 
advent of the Minnesota regiment on Sunday on their 
way to the seat of war was suggestive of many curious 
reflections. It carried the mind back to the twilight 
of modern civilization, to the days when not hireling 
mercenaries, but companions in arms, free men of 
northern Europe, burst from their icy homes and over- 
whelmed their effeminate southern neighbors. The old 
story of the world's history seemed to be repeated ; and 
chronicle and tradition alike teach us what the result 
must be. As we beheld the men march by, their stal- 
wart forms, wild dress, martial bearing, and healthy 



FIRST REGIMENT AT ALEXANDRIA. 653 

complexions gave reality to the reflection, that this, after 
all was repetition of the scene, — that these were forms as 
brawny, faces as intelligent, expressions as resolute, as 
in the days of old issued from the Northern Hive to 
plant the foundations of all that we now know of free- 
dom and civilization." 

After remaining a few days encamped at Washington, 
the regiment was ordered to cross the Potomac. A 
correspondent of the St. Paul Press writes as follows 
from 

11 Camp Minnesota, rear of Alexandria, 
" Fourth of July night. 

" The Minnesota Regiment, since yesterday after- 
noon, has not been ' in clover,' but in a field of timothy. 

" On the morning of the 3d we pulled up stakes in 
the rear of the Capitol, and, marching down to the 
Washington Navy Yard, were received by Commodore 
Dahlgren, a noble specimen of Philadelphia, and a true 
patriot, who had two staunch steamers all ready to 
convey us to Alexandria. As I renewed acquaintance 
with the commodore, I could but realize the painful 
estrangements that have taken place in a few months. 
The last time I had met him was at a small evening 
party, at the hospitable house of Senator Toombs, then 
recognized as a patriot, and particularly as a friend of 
our young State, now known the world over as one of 
a few fanatics who have conspired to overthrow the 
most beneficent government ever devised by man. 

"Arriving at Alexandria in less than an hour, 
we marched to General McDowell's head-quarters, 
and received directions to retire to our camping- 
ground, and were reviewed by him and other military 
officers. 



^54 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

"The reception in Alexandria formed the widest 
contrast to that in Chicago. 

"The latter was enthusiastic, and the filled streets, 
although it was the peaceful Sabbath eve, waved with 
a forest of clapping hands ; but, in the former, vacant 
houses, with here and there a half-opened shutter, re- 
vealing a curious, peeping female, and in the streets a 
knot of sullen or expressionless faces, were all the 
manifestations witnessed. 

"The spot selected for our encampment was a large 
field of waving timothy, yesterday belonging to a man 
of secession proclivities, but to-day it has withered 
under the Alaric heel of our Northmen. 

" It was after night before all the tents arrived, and 
it was pleasant to see the cheerfulness with which the 
soldiers bore the loss of their usual meals. 

" During the afternoon we had ocular evidence that 
we were in ' Ole Virginny,' as the negroes say. Our 
arrival was soon chronicled among the sable popula- 
tion, and soon a small army of venders of gingerbread 
made their appearance. 

" Lads of all hues, from the darkest ebony to the 
lightest cinnamon, basket in hand, grinned at you in 
the bewitching, good-humoured way peculiar to negro 
boys, that is irresistible and forces you to buy a cake 
and dispense with any change that is due. Fat, shining, 
waddling, turbaned, composed, thick-lipped Dinahs stop 
in front of you so graciously and courtesy so low that 
you must take their glass of lemonade, which is only 
three cents. Toward night, dealers in large craft, — 
Sambo, who is too big a gentleman to carry bundles, 
has harnessed up master's large horse to the heavy 
wood-cart, and has driven out with the ponderous load. 



FOURTH OF JULY IN VIRGINIA. £55 

of two or three baskets of pies and sweet things, and, 
with a due sense of importance, awaits customers. 

" The Fourth of July, with more than one thousand 
Minnesotians near Alexandria, with the Massachusetts 
5th on the other side of the road, and Ellsworth's 
Zouaves adjoining them, and a Pennsylvania and 
Michigan regiment on a hill near by, shows that the 
times are sadly out of joint, and that ' there is some- 
thing rotten in Virginia.' 

" Yet, all day long, we have felt as if the spirit of 
Washington was with us, and if he was to arise from 
his tomb at Mount Vernon, and move with his wonted 
stately step through the streets of Alexandria, once 
so familiar to him, that he would look around as Jesus 
once gazed on the Jews, with righteous indignation. 

"He lived not for Virginia, nor for the South, but 
denied and sacrificed to make one great nation out of 
several petty, jealous, and insignificant colonies. As 
he urged the suppression of the Shays rebellion by the 
force of arms, so we feel sure that he approves of the 
occupancy of Virginia soil on this Fourth of July by 
government troops to suppress the Davis insurrection. 

"Being dead, he yet speaks to us and tells us that 
our nation is one, and that the people of the United 
States have formed a perpetual Union, which no State 
authority can abrogate. 

"But I must restrain my patriotism, as I am writing 
a familiar letter on the top of a trunk, and not deliver- 
ing a Fourth of July oration. 

" This morning about 3 o'clock the camp was called 
to arms by the rapid beat of the drum, as the discharge 
of musketry indicated that the rebel pickets were firing 
upon ours some two or three miles distant. 



656 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

" Chaplain Da Costa, of the 5th Massachusetts Regi- 
ment, visited us this evening. He is a member of the 
Episcopal branch of the church catholic, and a genial 
Christian gentleman. He has to-day received what he 
has long waited for, a piece of contraband property, 
a first-rate black servant, trained in all the arts and 
mysteries of his profession. 

" His master's residence was near by, but he has been 
some time absent as captain of a rebel troop. A few 
days ago he wrote to have his man sent to him. Two 
constables to-day went out from Alexandria to see 
Sambo at his master's place, and convey him to a 
6 lock-up' for safe-keeping until there was a favourable 
opportunity to forward the chattel. 

" Sambo liked his master well enough, but did not 
relish leaving the old home and going into a strange 
country among a people who were doing very strange 
things. So, watching his opportunity, he turned a 
short corner, and, dodging his pursuers, threaded the 
lanes and alleys of Alexandria, and, with the speed of 
a deer, bounded into the Massachusetts camp, and is 
now the happy drawer of water and blacker of boots 
of Chaplain Da Costa. 

" Would that some other injured individual would 
take to his heels and fly to the tent of the Minnesota 
chaplain, who is sadly in need of a Gibeonite!" 

The same correspondent again writes : 

11 Camp Gorman, near Alexandria, 
"July 10, 1861. 

"Last Sunday, our first in Virginia, was to me a 
calm, pleasant, holy day. At the appointed hour the 
regiment formed, and, preceded by the band, marched 



SUNDAY SERVICE. 657 

to a clump of oaks a short distance from the camp, 
which formed a Bethel in the original Hebrew signifi- 
cation, and would have delighted a Ruskin, or any 
other lover of the aesthetic. 

" The trees were not more than twenty in number, 
but lofty and venerable, and so arranged as to leave 
an open and shady centre just sufficient to accommo- 
date the regiment. While the companies under their 
respective officers were filing into the grove, the birds, 
poised amid the graceful arches of nature's leafy temple, 
sang a cheerful voluntary, which sounded far more like 
an anthem of praise than the artistic performances of 
mere heartless hirelings on the solemn-toned organ in 
some modern sanctuaries. 

" The prayers, the hymns, and the discourse were 
conformed to the occasion, and it is said that the 
audience was not weary. While the chaplain was 
invoking the blessing of Heaven upon our nation's 
arms, the Rev. Mr. Leftwich, pastor of the Second 
Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, in his own pulpit 
offered earnest prayer for the success of those in armed 
rebellion against the government. 

" After the services were over, Colonel Heintzelman, 
the commanding officer in Alexandria, sent for and re- 
monstrated with him. He acknowledges the charge, and 
says he must obey God rather than man. The church 
had a military guard around it that night, and evening 
services were postponed. In the Washington Star of 
to-night Mr. Leftwich has a note, in which he com- 
plains of the interference with him as tyrannical; but 
he forgets that if he conscientiously uses the privilege 
of publicly praying for treason in the face of a govern- 
ment order, he must, like Daniel, who only prayed in 

42 



658 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

his own home, be ready to suffer the penalty, and be 
ready to go to the prison-house. The concluding sen- 
tences of his letter, while beautiful, show how the 
people of this vicinity are estranged. I send them for 
your readers : 

" ' As to the alleged division of sentiment in my 
church, all that I shall say is, that, unless the signs 
are strangely deceptive, my prayers carry weekly to 
God the earnest and honest desires of a united and 
devoted people. If there be more than one supporter 
of the Administration in my congregation, I am yet to 
learn his name. I am not alone in this kind of offence, 
if offence it can be called. As I look at these hills, 
now whitened with tents, I feel assured that beyond 
them there is scarcely a brook-side on which some 
Jacob is not wrestling for the results which I have 
invoked, and in all those sweeping ranges scarcely a 
mountain from which good men, with eyes rapt as 
were Moses' upon Nebo, are not fondly beholding 
visions of success/ 

" How changed is this neighbourhood since the days 
following the Revolution! It is difficult to realize, 
after reading the sentiments we have just quoted, that 
it was in Alexandria, in the spring of 1785, that com- 
missioners from Maryland and Virginia met to devise 
remedies to overcome the acknowledged defects arising 
from thirteen independent States, and that their recom- 
mendations induced Virginia, in 1786, to ask the other 
States to appoint delegates to assemble and, among 
other subjects, consider 'how far a uniformity of their 
commercial regulations may be necessary to their 
common interest and permanent harmony,' which re- 
commendation resulted in the memorable Convention 






A CONTRABAND IN CAMP. 659 

of 1787, which framed the glorious Constitution which 
Virginians now wish to subvert. 

" When I hear of Brent, a native of this city, 
formerly a lawyer in St. Paul, now a major of rebel 
cavalry, I can but say with Washington, at the time 
of the civil discord in Massachusetts : 

" ' What, gracious God, is man, that there should be 
such inconsistency and perfidiousness in his conduct? 
It was but the other day that we were shedding our 
blood to obtain the constitutions under which we now 
live, — constitutions of our own choice and making, — 
and now we are unsheathing the sword to overturn 
them ! The thing is so unaccountable that I hardly 
know how to realize it, or to persuade myself that I 
am not under the illusion of a dream/ 

"But, as usual, I am branching off into a disqui- 
sition, while your St. Paul readers, like the ancient 
Athenians, are continually inquiring of you 'for some 
new thing/ Alas! news is scarce with us just now. 
We are expecting to move every day, but as yet we 
remain. 

"This morning I was in the Massachusetts camp, and 
saw the contraband who arrived there on the Fourth 
of July, an Independence Day he will never forget. 
His name is Henry, and, to use the language of Southern 
advertisements, ' he is a likely lad, sound in body, well 
disposed, and a capital house servant/ His face is 
black as an ace of spades, his lips are as thick as a 
buffalo's, and his grin forces you to do likewise. He 
has no fault to find with old friends, but he is very 
happy with his new ones, and anxious to see the in- 
stitutions of Massachusetts. May Henry not be dis- 
appointed in his expectations, is my only wish. Too 



660 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

many have fled from servitude, to find themselves 
wholly unprepared for the toils and trials incident to 
freedom." 

After the army crossed the Potomac the following 
circular, at the suggestion of the surgeons, was prepared 
on the ninth of July, at Camp Gorman, near Alexan- 
dria : 

" To the churches of Christ in Minnesota, of every 
name, greeting. 

" Grace be with you, mercy and peace from God the 
Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of 
the Father, in truth and love. 

"By the request of Surgeon Stewart and Assistant 
Surgeon Le Boutillier I send this circular. A regiment 
during the first months of its organization is necessarily 
destitute of adequate hospital funds, and owing to the 
pressure on the department at Washington, ordinary 
medical supplies are limited. Soldiers exposed to the 
heat of the noon-day sun and the malaria that walketh 
in darkness, frequently find their way, after the night's 
watch, to the hospital. Careful nursing, and food more 
delicate than army rations, are the remedies prescribed 
for recovery. 

" The surgeons feel that the various branches of the 
church in Minnesota, whose children are all represented 
in the regiments, will esteem it a privilege to contribute 
something, even the widow's mite, to procure a lemon, 
or orange, or cup of cold water or other refreshment, 
for a soldier debilitated by exposure to Southern suns, 
and they have selected the writer as a medium of 
communication. 

" Contributions should be made for the Hospital Fund 



HOSPITAL FUND. 



661 



of the 1st Minnesota Regiment, and forwarded in 
Eastern exchange. All receipts will be publicly ac- 



knowledged by 



Edward D. Neill, Chaplain, 



The response to this circular was so prompt, hearty, 
and abundant that it was necessary to request the citi- 
zens to refrain from further contributions. 1 The funds 
received were sacredly guarded by the appointed cus- 
todian. Upon his resignation as chaplain, he placed 
in the State Treasurer's hands, for safe-keeping, the 
unexpended balance, 2 and in a communication to 



" Washington, Aug. 13. 
11 To Governor Ramsey : 

"Don't kill us with kindness. Tell 

liberal men and noble women to send 

no more money nor clothing. God 

bless them. 

"£. D. Neill." 

'Some of the reports, as showing 
the sources of the Hospital Fund 
and its expenditures, may not be un- 
interesting. 

"HOSPITAL FUND OF THE FIRST 
MINNESOTA REGIMENT. 

11 Camp Stone, near Edward's 

Ferry, Md. 
"Monday Night, Feb. 24, 1862. 
u His Excellency Alex. Kamsey, 
11 Governor or Minnesota: 
"Dear Sir, — It seems proper that, 
through you, a semi-annual report on 
the condition of the noble Hospital 
Fund of the 1st Regiment, contrib- 
uted with many kindly words and 
blessings, should be rendered to the 
donors resident in different localities. 
""We would recall the origin of 
this fund. "While encamped near 



Alexandria, Surgeon Stewart and 
Assistant Surgeon Le Boutillier re- 
quested the chaplain to appeal to 
the various branches of the church 
in Minnesota, for a small fund that 
would enable them to aid the sick 
without the delay incident to a re- 
quisition on the Medical Bureau. 

11 The appeal was limited to the 
organizations of the church, not to 
exclude others, but because these are 
necessarily benevolent, and widely 
distributed throughout the State. 

"Shortly after its publication, the 
battle and repulse of July 21st oc- 
curred, and the 1st Minnesota being 
in the extreme right of our army 
and in the closest proximity to the 
extreme left of the rebels, our brave 
soldiers were by scores either killed 
or wounded. 

11 As soon as our citizens recovered 
from the shock of the sad intelligence, 
they manifested tender sympathy, 
and contributions for our Hospital 
Fund were forwarded from all parts 
of the State by churches and associa- 
tions, and men of different 1 "lief and 
nationality. 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Governor Swift made the suggestion that it should 

be expended in procuring a monument with appropriate 

"The chaplain has of course been Aug. 17th. Roman Catholic Cathedral 

a simple treasurer, making disburse- T Congregation $30.00 

r . . ,' , July 27th. Hope Engine Company 20.00 

ments by order of the surgeons, and „ 29th Germa n S> per Chas. Leinau.... 47.60 

they have husbanded the fund with « « Morris Lamprey, Esq 100.00 

great care, not knowing how soon it A «g. 1st- Citizens, per Mrs. Rodney 

may be before an engagement will „ Parker 67.00 

' , . -i « -ii Sept. 1st. Citizens, per same 75.00 

occur, when heavy drafts on it will «, „ M rs. D. A. Robertson 10.00 

be necessary. •« ■« Mrs. W. L. Bannings' domes- 

" It is believed that all the funds tics 50 

forwarded have been received, with A "* 8th Philip Rohr's Concert 67.15 

„ ' " " St. Paul Female Seminary 7.00 

the exception of fifty dollars from „ „ w . C. Thompson, Esq 10.00 

Northfield; and this we have been 

told was used for the benefit of one Stillwater. 

of the companies, by the gentleman Aug. 2d. Citizens, per Messrs. Burt and 

to whom it was entrusted. Robertson 225.00 

"Mr. Scheffer forwarded from Still- gT ANTH0NY 

water $44.07, which, by request of xoj • „ „ " . ~„« 

, , . August 2d.. Citizens, per O.C.Merriman.. 22.00 

the donors, was subsequently given „ 3d.. Congregational Church 9.00 

to Lieutenant Muller for the benefit « « Methodist Church 10.00 

of Company B. ISov. 2d. Citizens, per Major Morgan... 8.10 
" This brief report has been written 

r . MINNEAPOLIS. 

in a tent, with a strong spring gale 

' , .', ■„*, n ■ July 29th. Plymouth Church 17.00 

blowing, and amid all the confusion Aug< 3d . Methodist Church 16>40 

incident to an order to march early « 5th. Baptist Church 21.00 

to-morrow; but I hope and believe " 7th. Ladies' Aid Society 71.30 

that the figures are correct, and you ttasttn-os 

will confer a favor bv having it pub- 

,. , , . ,. ,. n Aug. 1st. Citizens, per J. L. Thorne 50.00 

hshed in the newspapers, to satisfy . „ u tt Follet & Eenick 50>00 

the contributors. 

" Edward D. Neill, Chaplain." red wing. 

July 29th. Citizens, per C. Gurnee 51.00 

Voluntary Contributions to Hospital Aug. 5th. Methodist Church 22.64 

Fund, 1st Minnesota Regiment. " " Collected by T. McCord 1.75 

" " Sands' Circus, per F.Sandford. 42.25 
ST. PAUL. " " Cash for freight 7.00 

July 29th. Market Street Method- WINONA. 

istChurch $25.00 Aug> 2d. Methodist Church 27.55 

Aug. 1st. Scandinavian Church... 3.00 « « Baptist Church 20.35 

" Jackson Street Church. 23.00 « 17th. Presbyterian Church 7.30 

$51.00 

July 29th. First Presbyterian Ch.. $27.58 FARIBAULT 
" " Central " ;{ 20.00 

" " House of Hope Church. 11.00 ^°S- lst - Citizens, per 0. Brown and 

$58.58 Bishop Whipple 140.00 

July 27th. Plymouth Congregation 25.00 " " Episcopal Mite Society 20.00 

Aug. 3d. Trinity Lutheran 5.00 « 21st. Methodist Church 10.10 



MONUMENT AT GETTYSBURG. 



663 



designs, to designate the spot in the Gettysburg Ceme- 
tery where the honored dead of the 1st Regiment who 
fell in battle have been interred. 



July 29th. 
it a 


Ang. 


1st 


u 
II 


5th. 
6th 



MANKATO. 

Sept.2Sth. Ladies' collection $52.00 

SHAKOPEE. 

Aug. 1st. Citizens, per James Ashley.... 53.40 
" " Presbyterian Church 10.30 

ST. CLOUD. 

Aug. 6th. Presbyterian Church 12.80 

«' " Citizens 12.00 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

Baptist Church,West St. Paul. 1.20 

Citizens of Anoka 11.50 

, Congregational Church, Lake 

City 6.00 

Citizens of Morristown 32.00 

, Citizens of "Wilton, Dodge 

county 5.00 

Citizens of Elgin, "Wabasha 

county 35.00 

Congregational and Methodist 
Churches, and Citizens of 

Princeton 17.20 

Citizens of Spring Lake, Scott 

county 

Baptist and Methodist Chs. 

and citizens of Lebanon 3.30 

Citizens of Newport and Cot- 
tage Grove 22.00 

Cottage Grove, per Rev. H. 

Welford 7.30 

Congregational Church at 

Clearwater 7.00 

Bloomington Presbyterian 

Church, Rev. G. H. Pond.... 13.00 
Belle Prairie Congregational 

Church 10.00 

Citizens of Little Falls 13.25 

Stockton Sunday School 6.55 

Rockford,perRev. N.Lathrop 1.00 
East Prairie, per D.N. Russell 30.65 
S. A. Goodrich, Bloomington. 1.25 

Stockton E. Society 6.00 

Preston Church, perRev. Bur- 
bank 18.80 

Lower Quincy, Olmsted co 15.00 

Northfield, per D. H. Frost... 13.67 

Mr. Pettijohn, Pajutazee 1.00 

Ladies of Cannon Falls 40.48 

Citizens of Henderson, per 
Pendergast 14.75 



Sept. 3d. Chaska, Carver co., per War- 
ner 



u 7th 

■ 8th. 

■ 10th 
" 12th. 

(i ii 

■ 15th. 

' 17th. 

1 20th. 

' 21st. 



■ 23d. 

■ 26th. 
Sept. 3d. 



818.50 



RECAPITULATION. 

St. Paul 8573.83 

Stillwater 225.00 

St. Anthony 49.10 

Minneapolis 125.70 

Hastings 100.00 

Red Wing 124.64 

"Winona 55.20 

Faribault 170.10 

Mankato 52.00 

Shakopee 63.70 

St. Cloud 24.80 

Miscellaneous 353.65 



July 29th. 

" 31st. 
Aug. 1st. 



' 6th 



7th. 
8th. 



10th. 
12th. 

13th. 
ii 

14th. 
15th. 

U II 

■ 16th. 

M II 

" 17th. 

■ 19th. 



Total 81917.72 

EXPENDITURES. 
Wm. Colling in Columbian 

Hospital $2.00 

Ambulance drivers .50 

A. G. Scofield, Company F, 

Alexandria Hospital 10.00 

Theodore "Wood, Company F.. 5.00 
Martin Healy, discharged 

soldier 2.50 

Chas. E. Hest, woynded 5.09 

Exchange paid by G. W. In- 

gersoll 85 

Hospital Steward, for tea 1.00 

John H. Jones, debilitated.... 2.50 
Freight paid by D. W. Inger- 

soll 31.50 

Hospital cook, for bread 1.00 

Samuel Dayton, Company H. 10.00 

Hospital Steward 3.00 

Telegram to Governor 4.95 

Charles Dorothy, Alexandria 

Hospital 2.50 

Express charges on package 

to Mrs. Scofield 1.00 

Dr. Hand, for hospital stores. 25.00 
Hotel and traveling expenses, 

visiting wounded at W T ash- 

ington and Alexandria 11.00 

Dinner for sick soldier 50 

Dinner for ambulance driver. .50 

Hospital Steward, for bread... 1.00 
Dr. Hand, for medicines and 

expenses 8.00 

Hospital Steward ... 3.00 



664 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



On July sixteenth, the regiment began to take part 
in the movement that culminated in the battle of 



Aug. 20th. 

M 21st. 

u 26th. 
Sept 1st. 



5th. 



« 6th. 

M u 

« 8th. 



10th. 
16th. 



17th. 
23d. 



27th. 



Not. 4th. 
" 5th. 



7th. 
21st. 



Expenses for DuBois and 

McMullen $1.03 

B. C. Knapp, Company K 10.00 

Gum Bougies 2.00 

Expenses to Washington and 

Annapolis 15.95 

Brandy and provisions fur- 
nished to fatigued soldiers 
after battle, by Sutler King. 43.60 

Repairing truss 1.00 

Chickens for Biddle 1.00 

Dinner for ambulance horses 

and driver 2.00 

Driver's board in Washin gton. 2.00 
Horse-doctor and medicine.... 1.50 

Mending harness 75 

Ambulance livery bill 3.00 

Vaccine virus ". 3.00 

Medicines 4.25 

Wines and liquors 12.00 

Hospital Steward 1.66 

Charges on box, care of Co. D. 6.65 

Chickens for hospital 1.00 

Wounded at Alexandria 20.00 

Hospital Steward 66 

Ten hospital cots, per Major 

Dike 25.00 

Hospital Steward 1.00 

Chickens for hospital 3.00 

Postage Stamps 2.00 

Oscar Gross, Company G, per 

Capt. Messick 5.00 

Ten hospital cots, per Oscar 

King 25.00 

Hospital Cook 2.25 

Hospital Nurse 50 

Hardware, washing, and ne- 
cessaries 4.00 

Board of Drs. Murphy and 
Hand, to be refunded when 

paid for services 56.08 

Broom for hospital 25 

Chas. Ricketts, Alexandria, 

per Capt. Downie 10.00 

Randolph, Company C, per 

Lieut. Hoyt 2.50 

Sundries, per Dr. Hand 3.50 

Ruler and blank book 2.50 

Livery bill 6.00 

Medicines 2.00 

Brandy 50 

Expenses of ambulance driver 1.50 

Chickens 50 

Candles 1.50 



Nov. 21st. Oysters for Cummings $ .50 

" " Hardware 1.25 

" " Wine for Cummings 1.00 

" " Hardware 1.00 

** " Ambulance and horses in 

Washington 5.00 

" " Repair of cots 1.00 

" M Blank book 1.00 

" " Stove and pipe 7.50 

" 25th. Chickens J75 

" 26th. Second Stove 12.17 

Dec. 10th. Richmond prisoners of war... 100.00 
" " Hiram Wentworth, per Capt. 

Coates 25.00 



1862. 

Jan. 24th, 

" 24th, 

" 30th 



Chickens 2.50 

Hospital steward 1.00 

Milk 1.00 

" " C. C. Marr, Richmond pris- 
oner 5.00 

" " Dr. Morton, for hospital use.. 5.00 
Feb. 18th. James Scurry, sick soldier on 

furlough 30.00- 

" " David Marshall, wounded sol- 
dier 30.00 

Counterfeit bill contributed... 5.00 

Hospital washing, 261 pieces. 10.44 



24th. 



Total expenditures 665.98 

Cash on hand 1251.74 



$1917.72. 

For want of space two reports that 
were published are omitted. 

11 United States Army Hospital, 
11 South Street, Phila., 

"Oct. 16, 1863. 
" Governor H. A. Swift: 

"Dear Sir,— Shortly after tha 
wounded of the 1st Minnesota were 
received in the hospitals of this 
city from the field of Gettysburg, 
I wrote to the Surgeon of the Kegi- 
ment, proposing that I should give 
to each of the wounded five dollars 
of the Kelief Fund that was forwarded 
to me by the churches and citizens of 
Minnesota, just after the first battle of 



MARCH TO BULL RUN. 



66& 



Bull Run. We continue, as more graphic than the 
sober words of the historian, the views of a letter- 
writer, July seventeenth, at Sangster's Station : 



Bull Run — the unexpended balance 
of which had been placed by me in 
the hands of the State Treasurer for 
safe keeping, after my resignation as 
regimental chaplain. 

" Two or three weeks ago I received 
a letter from Dr. Le Blond, approving 
the proposition, and a draft was drawn 
on the State Treasurer for two hun- 
dred and fifty dollars. 

"Since the first of the month the 
following soldiers have each received 
five dollars, and in one case, by mis- 
take, a payment of ten dollars was 
made : 

Chas. Muller, Company A $5.00 

Adam Marty, 

F. P. Schonbach, 
E. F. Neystadt, 
Fred. Marty, 
Andrew P. Quist, 
Barth. Carigalt, 
Peter Everson, 

G. L. Squires, 
Andrew Kreiger, 
J. W. Kautz, 
E. P. Perkins, 
Jas. Walsh, 
Benj. F. Noel, 
Chas. W. Geer, 
L. B. Geer, 
W. C. Smith, 
Henry Fisher, 
G. Weaver, 
Marion Abbott, 
Romulus Jacks, 
Geo. Magee, 
G. S. Hopkins, 
Killion Drindle, 
Lewis Breisch, 
John H. Docker, 
P. Hess, 
C. B. Berk, 
J. Donovan, 
Wm. D. Howell 
Ernest Miller, 
0. H. Knight, 
W. K. Richard, 



5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
10.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 



D. S. Wearts, Company I $5.00 

D. Barton, " 1 5.00 

J. S. Eaton, " K 5.00 

Wm. Kinyon, " K 5.00 

C. B. Boardman, " K 5.00 

V. B. Baker, " L 5.00 

W. M. Coleman, " L 5.00 

Julian Rauch, 1st Company Sharp- 
shooters 5.00 



$210.00 
RECAPITULATION. 

Draft on Charles Scheffer $250.00 

Paid soldiers $210.00 

Telegram for soldiers 2.63 

Exchange 2.50 

Expenses of delivery 50 

215.63 



Balance on hand $34.37 

" Before this you will have proba- 
bly received the ofiicial announce- 
ment of the contemplated dedication 
of the battle-field cemetery at Gettys- 
burg on November nineteenth ; and,, 
feeling' assured that it will meet a 
hearty response from every donor 
of the fund, I would respectfully 
suggest that you forward a draft for 
$500 (presuming that there still re- 
mains that amount in the hands of 
the State Treasurer) to be expended 
in procuring a monument^ with ap- 
propriate designs, to designate the 
spot in that cemetery where the hon- 
ored dead of the 1st Minnesota are 
interred. 

11 Yours, very respectfully, 

" Edward D. JSTeill, 
" Chaplain XJ. S. A.» 

" Philadelphia, Dec. 30, 1863. 
" To the Governor of Minnesota 

"Dear Sir, — Expecting in a few 
days to resign my position as chap- 
lain in the army, I forward my final 
report of the funds entrusted to me 



€66 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

"On the top of an old, and I am glad to say empty, 
whisky barrel, I write that after a* tramp of sixteen 
miles by all sorts of ways, highways, by-ways, and no 
ways, we are, not encamped (for we have no tents), but 
are reclining in a field near a saw- and grist-mill, which 
was to-day suddenly deserted. 

" Yesterday, about ten o'clock, we marched from our 
camp near Alexandria, and in a few hours there was 
a column, under Colonel Heintzelman, moving in a 
direction to leave Fairfax Court-House on our right; 
General McDowell marching at the same time, by 
another road, for that point, now become so familiar 
to every one interested in the war. 

" The regiments of Heintzelman's division marched 
yesterday in the following order: Colonel Franklin's 
Brigade, consisting of the Massachusetts 5th, Pennsyl- 
vania 4th, Minnesota 1st, and Ricketts' United States 
Artillery ; then followed Michigan 1st, United States 
Cavalry, New York Zouaves, Michigan 4th, New 
York 38th, Maine 4th, Vermont 2d, Maine 5th, and 
Maine 3d. 

" All day yesterday we marched through a country 

by the churches, etc., for relief of Steen, Company A, York, $5. Total, 

soldiers. $16. 

" A reference to my last report, " The amount left in my hands is 

published in the papers of St. Paul, therefore eighteen dollars and thirty- 

dnd dated October sixteenth, will seven cents, for which a check in favor 

show that then the sum of thirty-four of the State Treasurer is enclosed, 

dollars and thirty-seven cents re- "For the information of the donors 

mained in my hands. to the fund, and for my own protec- 

" Since that period I have presented tion, you will confer a favor by pub- 

the following sums : Charles Drake, lishing this, as all previous reports 

Company A, South Street Hospital, have been, in the Press and Pioneer. 

$3 ; Dana Barton, Company G, Chest- M Yours truly, 

nut Hill (additional), $3 ; Chas. Ely, " Edward D. Neill, 

Company K, Broad Street, $5; Chas. " Chaplain U. S. A." 



POOR WHITES OF VIRGINIA. 667 

diversified by pine forests and a few valleys, but sparsely 
settled. Toward night the country became more broken, 
and the valley of the Accotink Creek was quite pleasing. 
After sunset we reached the Pohick, a small stream, 
and on the hillside of the valley, toward the west, we 
rested for the night. 

" After sleeping under the hospital ambulance, with 
a horse tied to each hind wheel, who stood as a body- 
guard all night, I arose quite refreshed, and after a cup 
of coffee with some pilot bread soaked therein, was 
ready to follow the fortunes of war. During the night, 
another regiment, the 11th Massachusetts, joined our 
column. Before sunrise we were all 'on our winding 
way,' the ponderous artillery immediately in front of 
our regiment. 

" The face of the country is now more broken. 
Travelled all the forenoon through a wooded country, 
with here and there a clearing, with a poor log farm- 
house and an apology for a barn, in the shape of a few 
pine logs loosely put together and half decayed. The 
inmates are what the Virginians call 'poor whites/ 
The mother stands at the door, a tall, vacant, gaunt, 
care-worn woman; the children pale and buttonless ; the 
father ill clad, and looking as if he was half ashamed 
to hold his head up in the presence of decent people. 

" About two miles on our march we passed an aguish- 
looking, badly frightened man, whose horse had been 
shot last night by our pickets, and who had received a 
wound on his own head, not very serious. 

" Two women were by his side, one white and coarse 
featured, the other, more refined, a plump matronly 
quadroon, who seemed to show quite a conjugal interest 
in the captured man. She told me that he was hunting 



668 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

for a colt when the soldiers challenged, and not un- 
derstanding them, he did not stop, and they fired. 

" Our march to-day was truly cautious. Like a serpent 
(and with our different uniforms as variegated) we have 
crept through the thick woods by unfrequented paths, 
and with serpent wisdom, determined not to be caught 
by the enemy. At midday we reached an improved 
country, and the farm of an intelligent person, originally 
from Rensselaer county, New York. The aged grand- 
father, his son and son's wife, a pretty granddaughter 
of sixteen, and a grandson of twelve years, stood at the 
gate, and their* eyes beamed and every feature was 
bright with joy as we passed. They shook hands, 
they talked, they laughed, for they felt that the hour 
of deliverance had come. During the week some of 
their neighbors had been drafted and unwillingly forced 
into the rebel army, but now they knew that the reign 
of terror must soon cease. 

"While standing at the farm gate, the news comes 
down the road that the enemy are at Fairfax Station,, 
and the pickets near by. Orders are soon given for the 
axemen to go forward to cut out the obstructions the 
enemy has placed in the road. The work is speedily 
executed. The New York Zouaves are hurried up, and 
go by us, jumping like squirrels, to strike the railway 
near the supposed rebel camp, while we move along 
with the Massachusetts 5th and U. S. Artillery, ta 
attack the, left flank. 

"Deserted pickets now appear, and in a little while 
we discover at a camping ground of a detachment of 
rebels, half a mile distant, a dense smoke, and learn 
that they had left in haste this morning, and, as they 
could not carry them, had burned up all their stores. 



MARCH TO CEXTREVILLE. 669 

u On we hasten till we reach a high plateau, looking 
into the valley through which the railways pass, and 
over toward the Blue Ridge, when we perceive smoke 
again, and in a half hour arrive at Sangster Station, 
six miles southwest of Fairfax Court-House, and only 
eight from Manassas Junction, and find that the rebels 
as usual have retreated, and in passing down from 
Fairfax Court-House to-day have burned all the railroad 
bridges. 

"Could we have been here but four or five hours 
sooner we could have caught them all. 

" After a tramp of sixteen miles in the hot sun, we 
reached here at four o'clock, and officers and men are 
all well." 

The same person wrote, July nineteenth, to the St. 
Paul Pioneer and Democrat from Centreville, Va. : 

"A three days' march has brought us to this place, 
where we found the rear of General McDowell's di- 
vision. 

"The first day, without peril or obstruction, we ad- 
vanced from Alexandria to Pohick Creek, and on the 
second day tramped by a roundabout road sixteen or 
seventeen miles, to a station on the Orange Railway, 
twenty miles from Alexandria, where we arrived about 
4 P.M. 

" General McDowell had reached Fairfax Court-House 
before dinner, and a number of Alabama and other 
troops passed by this station, flying to Manassas Junc- 
tion, two hours before we reached the spot, and in their 
rear left burning bridges, to prevent pursuit. 

"'Yesterday morning Captain Wilkin was sent up the 
railway with twenty men, to scout. He returned in 
about two hours and a half with intelligence that three 



6T0 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

miles distant he perceived about five hundred of the 
enemy on a hill commanding the road. 

" In the afternoon Lieutenant-Colonel Miller, with 
companies A and B, was ordered to proceed on the 
railway, and discover if the bridge at Union Mills was 
burned. They proceeded about the same distance, and 
with the aid of a glass Lieutenant-Colonel Miller and 
Lieutenants Downie and Thomas all distinctly saw a 
battery of five or six guns at the point seen by Captain 
Wilkin in the morning. 

"While they were absent the long roll was sounded, 
and the brigades of Colonel Heintzelman's division were 
quickly on the march again. Just at dark, not far 
from this place, we heard that there had been a bloody 
engagement at Bull Run, where a detachment under 
General Tyler had been mowed down by a masked 
battery. 

" Shortly after this rumor, it began to rain, and we 
were drenched by a nice little shower. Without 
provisions, surrounded by twenty hungry and wet 
regiments, and with nothing but the bad news of the 
afternoon fight to digest, we went supperless to bed, if 
sleeping in the open air can be thus designated. 

" This morning the rumor of last night is confirmed. 
Yesterday about midday, Sherman's Artillery, the 
12th and another New York regiment, marched into 
the mouth of a masked battery. The men behaved 
bravely, but they could not stand before the galling 
and unexpected fire, and after a time they retreated, 
with at least sixty killed. 

" It is hinted, by those who profess to know, that this 
mishap was occasioned by Tyler, who is an officer of 
the regular army, not strictly following orders. 



REBEL PICKET CAPTURED. 671 

" A negro who escaped from the rebel army, and was 
picked up by Lieutenant Thomas yesterday afternoon 
towards dusk, says that his master, a captain, was 
killed, and hundreds of others by the fire of our artil- 
lery. He also states that Beauregard was there, and 
that a shot struck a white house, in the porch of which 
the general was viewing the engagement, and knocked 
out one end. 

"This morning, amidst anathemas fierce and loud 
from long lines of Zouaves and others, a band of eight 
rebel soldiers was marched through the camp up to 
General McDowell's tent. They were a picket sta- 
tioned near Fairfax Court-House, which the rebels in 
their haste had forgotten to call in. 

"Their uniform was rather Falstaffian. Their heads 
were covered with apologies for caps and hats. Two 
wore dark brown blouses, and the rest were dressed in 
iron-gray satinet, with green trimmings, and belong, 
I believe, to an Alabama regiment. 

" To-day I had the pleasure of meeting General Burn- 
side, one of the most gentlemanly and efficient officers. 
Having resigned the army several years ago, he engaged 
in the manufacture of small arms, which he had im- 
proved. About six years ago the firm with which he 
was connected failed. An industrious man, he came 
out to St. Paul, and passed a short period in the hope 
of identifying himself with some of our then projected 
railways. Finding insufficient encouragement, he be- 
came, through the influence of McClellan, first, assist- 
ant treasurer, and then treasurer of the Illinois Central 
Railroad. 

"The war breaks out, and these two friends and noble 
men leave situations yielding them an income of thou- 



672 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



sands of dollars, to serve their country. Their services 
have been appreciated, — McClellan ranking as major- 
general of the United States army, and Burnside as 
brigadier in command of the Rhode Island forces. 

" To-day we are at a 'stand-still/ probably awaiting 
more troops, to render success more sure, and save the 
shedding of more blood." 

As it is impossible for any person to see the entire 
battle-field, it is always better to present the statement 
of several eye-witnesses, made from different stand- 
points. 

Using the reports of the division, brigade, and regi- 
mental commander on the conduct of the 1st Minne- 
sota Regiment in battle on Sunday, July twenty-first, 
at Bull Run, we have added thereto in footnotes 1 the 
statements of others. 



1 Javan B. Irvine, of St. Paul, ar- 
rived a few days before the battle on 
a visit to his brother-in-law, Mr. 
Halsted , of Company A. In civilian's 
dress, he took a musket and went into 
action, and captured the officer of the 
highest rank among all the prison- 
ers taken by the various brigades. 
For his bravery, he was made First 
Lieutenant 13th United States In- 
fantry on October twenty-sixth, 1861. 
He is still a captain in the regular 
army. Mr. Irvine's letters to his 
wife, published in one of the St. Paul 
papers, were among the best written 
after the fight, and are worthy of 
preservation. He says: 

" We took a circuitous route 
through the woods, and arrived in 
vicinity of the enemy at about ten 
o'clock in the morning. While on 
the march, the battle was commenced 
by the artillery who were in the ad- 



vance, and the roar of which we 
could distinctly hear some three or 
four miles off", and the smoke rising 
at every discharge of the same. 

"You can form some idea, per- 
haps, of our forces, when I tell you 
that our lines were some five or six 
miles in length, and the Minnesota 
Regiment was as difficult to find as 
it would be to find a single person 
in a very large crowd of men. 

" At about eleven o'clock we halted 
in a ravine, to give the men an op- 
portunity to fill their canteens with 
water. At this time the firing had 
become pretty general, and the roar 
of artillery and the rattle of mus- 
ketry was heard only about a mile 
distant. You have, no doubt, read 
of the agitation and fear which come 
over individuals on the approach of 
battle, but I must say, and I say it 
not in the spirit of braggadocio either, 



BULL RUN BATTLE. 



673 



Colonel S. P. Heintzelman, of 17th United States In- 
fantry, was the commander of the division to which 
the Minnesota Regiment was attached. 

He says in his report of the battle : " At Sudley's 
Springs, while waiting the passage of the troops of 
the division in our front, I ordered forward the 1st 
brigade to fill their canteens. Before this was ac- 
complished the leading regiments of Colonel Hun- 



that I experienced no such fears or 
agitation during the conflict. I was 
surprised at this myself, for I cer- 
tainly thought that I should feel as 
writers have so often described. 

" While halting here, I, together 
with others of the hoys, coolly went 
to picking blackberries, with which 
the whole country abounds. We soon 
took up our line of march, and drew 
near to the battle-field (at double- 
quick time), and were stationed in a 
field, sheltered by a strip of woods, 
about one-half mile from where our 
forces were fighting. Here we di- 
verted ourselves of our blankets, and 
haversacks of provisions, and what- 
ever might impede us in fighting, 
retaining however, of course, our 
arms and ammunition. 

"You have no idea how desperate 
men will act while approaching or 
retiring from a battle-field. They 
appeared to have no care or anxiety 
for anything except their arms; all 
else was thrown off and strewn along 
the road. 

"Wo did not remain long in the 
field where we were stationed, before 
the order came to advance, which we 
did through the woods at double- 
quick, and soon came up to the 
field where the conflict was raging. 
Here we halted in the edge of the 



woods, in the presence of the dead 
and wounded, who were lying all 
around us, until about 5000 troops 
filed past us to take their position. 

" As they passed the general offi- 
cers and staff they cheered in the 
wildest and most enthusiastic man- 
ner. After they had passed, we took 
our position in the open field in sight 
of the enemy's batteries. We were 
soon, ordered to advance from this 
position and file around to the left, 
for the purpose of outflanking and 
taking them. "While doing this the 
cannon-balls and bomb-shells flew 
around us thick and fast. Fortu- 
nately they were most of them aimed 
too high, and we passed unharmed, 
but not without frequent dodging by 
some of the boys as the balls and 
shells whistled by. Our battery had 
engaged them by this time in front 
while we were passing to the left. 
We ran down a hill and crossed a 
small stream. I being a little in ad- 
vance, stopped to pick a few black- 
berries to quench my thirst while the 
regiment came up. We soon came 
to a road where we were met by an 
aid to the commanding officer, who 
desired us to follow him and take up 
a position where he could get no 
other troops to stand. We told 
him we would follow him, and he 



674 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



ter's division became engaged. General McDowell, 
who, accompanied by his staff, had passed us a short 
time before, sent back Captain Wright of the engineers, 
and Major McDowell, one of his aids, to send forward 
two regiments. * * * * Captain Wright led forward 
the Minnesota Regiment to the left of the road which 
crossed the run at this point. * * * * I accompanied 
this regiment. At a little more than a mile from the 



gave us a position to the left of the 
battery and directly opposite to it. 
Here we formed in line of battle, with 
a strip of woods between us and about 
four thousand secessionists. We had 
just formed when we were ordered 
to kneel and fire upon the rebels, 
who were advancing under cover of 
the woods. "We fired two volleys 
through the woods, when we were 
ordered to rally in the woods in our 
rear, which all. did except the first 
platoon of our own company, who 
did not hear the order and stood 
their ground. The rebels soon came 
out from their shelter between us and 
their battery. Colonel Gorman mis- 
took them for friends and told the 
men to cease firing upon them, 
although they had three secession 
flags flying directly in front of their 
advancing columns. This threw our 
men into confusion, some declaring 
they were friends, others that they 
were enemies. I called to our boys 
to give it to them, and fired away 
myself as rapidly as possible. The 
rebels themselves mistook us for 
Georgia troops, and waved their 
hands at us to cease firing. I had 
just loaded to give them another 
charge when a lieutenant-colonel of 
a Mississippi regiment rode out be- 
tween us, waving his hand for us to 



stop firing. I rushed up to him and 
asked if he was a secessionist. He 
said 'he was a Mississippian.' I 
presented my bayonet to his breast 
and commanded him to surrender, 
which he did after some hesitation. 
I ordered him to dismount, and led 
him and his horse from the field, in 
the meantime disarming him of his 
sword and pistols. I led him off 
about two miles and placed him in 
charge of a lieutenant, with an escort 
of cavalry, to be taken to General 
McDowell. He requested the officer 
to allow me to accompany him, as he 
desired my protection. The officers 
assured him that he would be safe in 
their hands, and he rode off. I re- 
tained his pistol, but sent his sword 
with him." 

In another letter, on July twenty- 
fifth, Mr. Irvine writes: 

" I have just returned from a visit 
to Lieutenant-Colonel Boone, who is 
confined in the old capitol. I found 
him in a pleasant room on the third 
story, surrounded b} 7- several southern 
gentlemen, among whom was Sena- 
tor Breckinridge. He was glad to 
see me, and appeared quite well after 
the fatigue of the battle of Sunday. 

"There were with me Chaplain 
Neill, Captains Wilkin and Colville, 
and Lieutenant Coates, who were in- 






HEIXTZELMAN'S REPORT. 



675 



ford we came upon the battle-field. Ricketts's Battery 
was posted on a hill to the right of Hunter's Division, 
and to the right of the road. After firing some twenty 
minutes at a battery of the enemy placed just beyond 
the crest of a hill, the distance being too great, it was 
moved forward to within about one thousand feet of 
the enemy's battery. Here the battery was exposed 
to a heavy fire of musketry, which soon disabled it. 



troduced to the colonel. We had a 
very pleasant interview, and invited 
the colonel to call on us at our camp 
when he obtained his parole. He is 
a fine-appearing and pleasant man. 
I also saw the two other prisoners. 
They are fine-looking fellows, and 
one, Mr. Lewis, of the Palmetto Ki- 
fles of South Carolina, very much of 
a gentleman. The other man's name 
is Walker, of Mississippi. * * * * 
As to the fighting qualities of the 
1st Minnesota, Company A took its 
position as you will see on the plan, 
and the first platoon never moved 
from it until ordered to retreat. 
Captain Wilkin fought like a hero. 
He seized a rifle and shot down four 
or £ve of the rebels, and took one 
prisoner. The drummer boy Hines 
[Company A] took an officer's horse, 
with sword, pistol, and trappings. 

• ; Much praise is awarded to Lieu- 
tenant Welch, of Ked Wing, for the 
gallantry and intrepidity he dis- 
played in rallying and cheering his 
men. 

•• Lieutenant Harris, of the same 
company, also behaved nobly. 



11 Captain McKune, of the Fari- 
bault Company, while leading his 
men, was shot dead. 

" The regimental flag presented by 
the ladies of Winona was pierced by 
thirteen balls, one a cannon-ball 
through the blue field, making a 
hole about a foot long. 

****** 

" I have not been mustered in yet, 
and think I shall not be. I shall 
fight on my own hook, always, how- 
ever, going into the field with Com- 
pany A, and sticking to them.''' 

EXTRACTS FR01T CHAPLAIN'S 

JOURNAL. 
"Saturday, July twentieth. — In 
company with Chaplain Da Costa 
and Assistant-Surgeon Keen of the 
Massachusetts 5th, walked to the 
scene of Thursday's engagement. 
When we came in sight of the ene- 
my's hospital, our advance pickets 
stopped us, as it was dangerous to 
proceed nearer. 

11 Captain Adams, of Company H, 
afterward obtained permission to 
pass the picket, and was fired upon 
by the enemy. 

" This afternoon a flag taken at 
Fairfax was paraded under an escort 
of Fire Zouaves and Michigan 1st. 
It is of silk, and bears the inscrip- 



676 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



Franklin's Brigade was placed on the right of the 
woods near the centre of our line, and on ground rising 
toward the enemy's position." 

Colonel W. B. Franklin of the regular army, brigade 
commander, in his report, after stating that Ricketts's 
Battery in its second position was soon disabled, says 
he ordered the 5th and 11th Massachusetts Regiments 
to save the battery, but that it was impossible to get 



tion, 'Tensas Kifles,' — a Louisiana 
corps. On the central stripe is a 
representation of a cotton-bale. 

"General McDowell has issued 
orders directing us to be ready to 
march at six o'clock p.m. After all 
things were ready, an aid came with 
an order postponing the march until 
two o'clock to-morrow. 

" Sunday, July twenty-first. — Ser- 
geant Young came and told me 
that it was time to rise. The night 
was cold, and after I rose I has- 
tened to one of the few camp-fires 
that had been lighted, to warm my- 
self. The moon shone brightly, and 
men moved about without much 
speaking, feeling that this might be 
their last Sunday on earth. 

" About three o'clock a.m. we left 
camp, and wound up the hill to Cen- 
treville. At the end of the village 
we halted until daylight, being de- 
layed by the passage of Colonel 
Hunter's column, which had pre- 
ceded us by another road to this point. 

' ' Following the column of Hunter, 
we passed a bridge near Centreville, 
I believe on the Warrenton road. 
■While Tyler's division kept on this 
road, those of Hunter and Heintzel- 
man soon turned. For several miles 
we passed through woodlands of oak 
and hickory, where no springs could 



be found that were serviceable, and 
the men suffered much for water 
and were quite fatigued, as it was 
warm; many of them had neither 
had breakfast nor supper the night 
before. 

" Emerging into an open country 
and looking to our left, we could see 
the smoke of artillery rising from 
the woods about a mile or two dis- 
tant, indicating that the action with 
the enemy had fairly commenced. 
About eleven o'clock we crossed a 
small branch which I supposed was 
Bull Kun. As Company A was 
crossing, Colonel Gorman, who was 
on the other side, in a loud voice 
urged the regiment to close up and 
hurry on. With alacrity the men 
obeyed, and with double-quick step 
they ran up the hill-side, which was 
through woodland. Just before we 
reached the summit, we met ambu- 
lances and soldiers carrying down 
wounded and dying men to a church 
called Sudley Church, which was on 
the roadside between the scene of 
action and the ford. As we turned 
into the wood near the battle-field 
an officer in uniform, and wounded 
badly in the neck, passed in a vehicle. 
With a smile of enthusiasm he threw 
out his arms and urged us on ; he 
was said to be Hunter. After pass- 






BULL RUN BATTLE. 



677 



the men to draw off the guns." He then continues: 
"The Minnesota Regiment moved from its position on 
the right of the field to the support of Ricketts's Bat- 
tery, and gallantly engaged the enemy at that point. 
It was so near the enemy's lines that friends and foes 
were for a long time confounded. The regiment be- 
haved exceedingly well." 

Colonel Gorman, in his report to General Frank- 



ing through the woods several rods, 
we came to a clearing, and our regi- 
ment formed in column and stood 
alone, the other regiments of the 
brigade having passed at a later 
period directly up the road from the 
ford. As the regiment waited for a 
few moments, Colonel Heintzelman, 
the commander of our division, and 
another officer, went to an eminence 
near by, and with a telescope took a 
view. As the wounded men of the 
regiments began to appear on the 
edge of the woods, Surgeon Le Boutil- 
lier requested me to go and ask Dr. 
Stewart to come up with the hospital 
attendants and the litters. I went 
back as requested, and saw the doctor ; 
he told me that the medical director 
had requested him to stay at and 
near Sudley Church. With privates 
Dengle and Williams, attached to the 
assistant-surgeon, I hurried back 
with the litters, and found the regi- 
ment had left the clearing. Passing 
through a narrow strip of woods, 
I came to open and cultivated land, 
and found the regiment. They occu- 
pied ground lately occupied by the 
enemy, who had been driven back 
by the Rhode Island Brigade. The 
enemy's batteries were planted on 
the heights on the opposite side of 
the open valley. Captain Ricketts's 



U. S. Battery, belonging to our bri- 
gade, was ordered to engage the 
enemy, and the Minnesota Regiment 
to support it. As they hurried 
through an old gate-way to take 
position opposite the enemy's rifled 
cannon, it was difficult for the sol- 
diers to push through, and I busied 
myself in pulling down fence rails, 
so they could move faster and not 
break column. 

"After Ricketts's U. S. Artillery 
began to fire I did not follow our 
regiment, but remained on the field 
at the point where the artillery un- 
limbered. 

" As I stood, General Burnside, of 
Rhode Island, whose acquaintance I 
had made in the winter of '59-'G0, at 
the house of General McClellan, in 
Chicago, rode up on horseback, anl 
I learned from him the history of tbt 
engagement of the Rhode Island A ■■ 
tillery with the enemy. He suppose 
that the enemy's battery was on tht. 
opposite side of the road from where he 
found it, and when he came in sight, 
he was obliged to reply, and at half- 
wheel engage them. After a hot 
contest, he dislodged them from their 
position. 

"While talking with General Burn- 
side, General McDowell rode on to 
the elevated field on the left hand 



618 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



lin, remarks: "Immediately upon Kicketts's Battery 
coming into position and we in line of battle, Colonel 
Heintzelman rode up between our lines and that of the 
enemy, within pistol-shot of each, which circumstance 
staggered my judgment whether those in front were 
friends or enemies, it being equally manifest that the 
enemy were in the same dilemma as to our identity; 
but a few seconds, however, undeceived both, they 



side of the road, and with several 
members of the staff, sat in their 
saddles and viewed the action. Eick- 
etts's Battery now ceased firing, and, 
attaching their caissons came out of 
the field where they were first posted, 
and wheeling into the road, descended 
to a position nearer the regiment and 
the enemy, and while there suffered 
severely. One of his lieutenants, 
Douglas Eamsey, a nephew of one 
with whom I was acquainted, had his 
head shot off. 

" As I stood I could see the locality 
where the Minnesota 1st and the 
Fire Zouaves were fighting. With a 
piece of woods on their right, they 
had reached the ascent of the slope, on 
the crest of which was the principal 
battery of the Confederates ; but the 
woods, as the clouds of dust indi- 
cated, were fast being filled with 
fres^ troops of the enemy. As the 
cam m-balls flew past me I changed 
my position from time to time, and 
once came to a small one-story house 
on our left filled with wounded of 
other regiments. Even here the 
shots from the rifled cannon came. 
Just before the retreat from the field, 
I went into the woods that skirted 
over near where stood the ambu- 
lances. One of these attached to our 
brigade was foremost, and a horse with 



saddle on, that was next the ambu- 
lance, was shot while I was talking 
to the driver. I had been here but 
a few minutes when a young man 
named Workman, a member of the 
Kegimental Band, came up and told 
me that there were several of our 
regiment wounded and on the field 
not far distant, and that he feared 
unless we could reach them soon they 
would be captured. In the absence 
of the surgeons, I told the driver of 
the ambulance to take Workman and 
myself to the spot indicated. Drove 
up to a fence of a small farm-house, 
and into the yard of a house, where lay 
numbers of wounded men ; all were 
eager to be placed in the ambulance, 
but I was obliged to tell them it wa? 
reserved for the wounded of thb 
Minnesota Regiment. Eeceiving 
four of our men, I drove off the field 
to Sudley Church, which was used as 
a hospital. 

" Here was a scene baffling all de- 
scription. The benches from this 
rude country church had all been 
removed, and its floor was strewn 
with wounded and dying. The gal- 
lery also was full. Ascending, I 
found Dr. Stewart. Stretched on his 
back was an elderly man of Company 
B, begging for water; his look was 
irresistible, and picking up a cup 



GORMAN'S REPORT. 



6T9 



displaying the rebel, and we the Union flag. Instantly 
a blaze of fire was poured into the forces of the com- 
batants, each producing terrible destruction, owing to 
the close proximity of the forces, which was followed 
by volley after volley, in regular and irregular order 
as to time, until Ricketts's Battery was disabled and 
cut to pieces, and a large portion of its officers and 
men had fallen, and until Companies H, J, K, C, G, 



besmeared with blood, I went to a 
brook some distance off and brought 
him what was mud and water ; but 
this impure potion was eagerly 
quaffed. Finding John T. Halsted, 
of St. Paul, I led him up-stairs to the 
doctor, as the fingers of his left hand 
were shattered by a ball. While 
his right arm was round my neck, 
he manifested some feeling, and when 
I told him his wound was not serious 
he said, { OA, I am not thinking of that, 
but of how many of our brave men have 
been cut down by the enemy V 

" Captain Acker, of St. Paul, 
slightly wounded in the eye, was 
lying on the church floor near the 
pulpit. As the groans of those mor- 
tally wounded were dreadful, he 
walked out to the open air leaning 
on my arm. As I sat with him near 
•a tree, I noticed my trunk containing 
my entire wardrobe not far distant, 
also those of Doctors Stewart and Le 
Boutillier, all of which became spoil 
of the enemy. While under the tree 
a private of Company K called my 
attention to a prisoner he had taken, 
a soldier of a Mississippi regiment. 
The prisoner first addressing me as 
captain, I told him I was a chaplain ; 
he grasped my hand, and said he 
hoped 'he was a Christian, and had 
enlisted from conscientious motives, 



as he thought Southern rights hadbeen 
infringed upon. ' He then begged me 
to protect him from ill-usage, and not 
force him to fight against his brethren. 
I assured him there was neither 
danger of ill-treatment from our 
troops, nor compulsion by the U. S. 
government to make him bear arms 
on our side. 

" Captain Acker, fearing capture, 
told me he would like to find our re- 
giment. Taking my arm we walked 
down to the ford, not far from the 
church, and there learned that Col- 
onel Gorman, with such officers and 
soldiers as he could find, had re- 
turned towards Centreville. Meeting 
Gates Gibbs, a son of Justice Gibbs 
of St. Paul, and one of my Sunday- 
school scholars when I preached in 
the First Presbyterian Church, driv- 
ing an empty ambulance, I placed 
therein Captain Acker. Had not 
proceeded far before I found soldiers 
carrying Lieutenant Harley, of Cap- 
tain Pell's company, on a litter. 
He was taken up, and in a few min- 
utes had our ambulance full of our 
wounded, and among others, Kobert 
Stephens, who, in 1849, when a lad, 
assisted in plastering my house, the 
first brick edifice built in Minnesota, 
now occupied by John W. Bond, at 
St. Paul. 



680 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



and those immediately surrounding my regimental flag r 
were so desperately cut to pieces as to make it more 
of a slaughter-house than an equal combat. * * * * 
I feel it due to my regiment to say that, before leaving 
the extreme right of our line, the enemy attempted to 
make a charge with a body of cavalry, who were met 
by my command and a part of the Fire Zouaves and 
repulsed with considerable loss to the enemy, but with- 



" While on the Warrenton Turn- 
pike, in the woods, about two miles 
south of the bridge over Cub Kun, 
the soldiers in foot of the ambulance 
appeared to be in great confusion ; 
was told that the enemy had flanked 
us. Fearing that a charge might be 
made, I asked the driver for some- 
thing red to hang out of the ambu- 
lance as a hospital flag. A youth of 
the Faribault Company, by the name 
of Kerrot, hearing my question, 
although lying in the bottom of the 
ambulance, wounded in the leg, and 
very weak, sat up and tore off his 
red flannel shirt and gave it to me. 
Placing it on a sabre bayonet, I held 
it for a time over the ambulance. 
As we neared Cub Run Bridge, there 
was evidence of a panic. Baggage- 
wagons were overturned, muskets 
and blankets strewn on the road, and 
cavalry and infantry mingled to- 
gether without any officers to restore 
confidence. Just at the bridge were 
broken artillery wagons, and a horse 
lying on the road with a wound in 
the breast. When we crossed at dusk 
by the ford adjoining the bridge, 
which was done with difiiculty, we 
saw in an open field a regiment 
drawn up in line, and the stars and 
stripes indicated they were a reserve 
of friends 



"Just after dark reached old camp- 
ing-ground at Centreville. Met Ad- 
jutant Leach, and was told that the 
field-officers and a portion of the re- 
giment was in the field near the old 
quarters of General McDowell. Pre- 
pared to go to sleep on some blankets 
I had borrowed, when an order was 
given for us to retire to Washington. 
By the kindness of the wagon-mas- 
ter, the well-known old settler, An- 
son Northrop, I obtained a tin cup 
of coffee, with some pilot bread, and 
I think it was the most refreshing 
meal I ever had. About half-past 
nine o'clock the regiment formed 
and began its march to Washington,. 
be} r ond Fairfax Court-House ; a por- 
tion, by mistake, took the Vienna 
road. This was the front with the 
field officers. Reached Vienna about 
half-past three Monday morning. 

li Monday morning, July twenty- 
second. — As the men had been on 
their feet twenty-four hours, halted 
at Vienna until five o'clock. Major 
Dike and I lay on the grass, with his 
saddle for a pillow, but as it rained 
I did not sleep half an hour. Began 
to march for Georgetown, fifteen 
miles distant ; when ten or eleven 
miles off hired a blacksmith, with a 
rickety one-horse wagon, for six dol- 
lars, to take Captain Putnam, Lieu- 



GORMAN'S REPORT. 681 

out any to us. * * * * I regard it as an event of 
rare occurrence in the annals of history that a regi- 
ment of volunteers, not over three months in the 
service, marched up without flinching to the mouth of 
batteries supported by thousands of infantry, and opened 
and maintained a fire until one-fifth of the whole regi- 
ment was killed, wounded, or made prisoners, before 
retiring, except for purposes of advantage of position. 

" My heart is full of gratitude to my officers and 
men for their gallant bearing throughout the whole ot 
this desperate engagement, and to distinguish the 
merits of one from another would be invidious, and 
injustice might be done. 

" Major Dike and my adjutant bore themselves with 
coolness throughout. My chaplain, Rev. E. D. Neill,. 
was on the field the whole time, and, in the midst of 
danger, giving aid and comfort to the wounded. Dr. 
Stewart while on the field was ordered to the hospital 
by a medical officer of the army. Dr. Le Boutillier 
continued with the regiment." 

After the battle, the regiment returned to Washing- 
ton to recruit. On the second of August they marched 

tenant Coates, and Zeinrenberg to Gorman and Major Dike. The corn- 
Georgetown. He drove so slow it manding officer, W. T. Sherman, was 
was some time before we reached not very obliging. With some diffi- 
Captain Putnam ; by the time the culty the guard allowed me to pass r 
wagon reached Falls Church, a under an order from Colonel Gorman, 
wounded Zouave and a soldier of to Georgetown Ferry. Taking an om- 
the New York Highland Regiment nibus at Georgetown went to Wash- 
begged a place, and it was impossible ington, called and informed Mrs. 
to refuse them. Finding Captain Dike and Mrs. Leach that their hus- 
Putnam, I relinquished my seat to bands were safe, and in the afternoon 
the driver, and was glad to be on my went to Philadelphia to replenish my 
feet again. own wardrobe, and procure supplies 

"About eleven o'clock, in the rain, for our wounded." 
called at Fort Corcoran, with Colonel 



^82 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

\o the Upper Potomac, and on the seventh went into 
camp near Seneca Mills, where they remained until the 
fifteenth, and then moved to a point between Pooles- 
ville and Edward's Ferry, which proved to be their 
winter quarters. They were attached to Gorman's 
Brigade, in Stone's Division, and commanded by Colonel 
N. J. T. Dana, 1 who, on October second, was mustered 
in as colonel. 

No event of importance occurred during the remainder 
of the year except in connection with the movement on 
October twenty-first, toward Leesburg, which resulted 
in the death of Colonel E. D. Baker, late U. S. Senator 
from Oregon. 

About one p.m. on Sunday, October nineteenth, the 
regiment was ordered to Edward's Ferry, and Colonel 
Dana was directed to send two companies to the Vir- 
ginia side in three flat-boats. The companies of Cap- 
tain Morgan and Captain Lester crossed, protected by 
the fire of our artillery, but in fifteen minutes were 
recalled, and the regiment was sent back to camp. 
A little after midnight Colonel Dana received orders 
to move again to the Ferry at daybreak. By half-past 
eight A.M. the whole regiment had crossed the Potomac, 
and was formed in line of battle, its left resting on 
Goose Creek. For three days, exposed to cold rains, 
this position was held. On Monday night other troops 
that had followed were ordered back to their camps, 
and, while they were recrossing, the 1st Minnesota 

1 Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Gordo, in Mexico. Captain and as- 

Dana, son of an army officer, was sistant quartermaster, March, 1848. 

born in Maine. Cadet 1838 ; second Eesigned commission in Kegular 

lieutenant, 7th Infantry, July, 1842 ; Army, 1855. Brigadier-general of 

first lieutenant, February, 1847. April volunteers, 1862. Major-general of 

18, 1847, severely wounded at Cerro volunteers, November, 29, 1862. 



COLONEL DANA'S REPORT. 633 

were kept in line and protected them. On Tuesday 
afternoon Company I, commanded by Second Lieu- 
tenant Halsey, was attacked by the enemy, and one 
killed and one wounded. On Wednesday night, at 
half-past nine o'clock, General Stone appointed Colonel 
Dana to superintend the withdrawal of our troops from 
Goose Creek, to the east side of the Potomac. Colonel 
Dana in his report says : 

"As the first streak of dawn made its appearance, 
Minnesota again alone, with General Stone, stood upon 
the Virginia shore, and everything else having been 
placed on board, the men were ordered to follow. I 
coveted the honor to be the last man upon the bank, 
but the gallant general would not yield his place, and 
I obeyed his order to go on board and leave him 
alone." 1 

Other troops from Minnesota began to enter the 
field about this time. The 2d Regiment, 3 which had 

1 A writer in the Faribault Bepub- period of stormy adversity must be 

lican speaks of a Sunday in camp j f.^sed through to prepare the' nation 

after Ball's Bluff disaster : for greater excellency. Nations must 

" To-day the chaplain preached to be baptized in blood, and subjected 

us out in tho woods. The cold winds to defeat, before sufficient strength 

brought the dead leaves down in of purpose and character is obtained 

showers and swept them in heaps, to ensure permanent prosperity.' " 
The chaplain could scarcelv raise his 

voice above the rustling of the leaves, ' Staff °™ers 2d Regiment. 

but we heard him say : '• That death Horatio P. Van Cleve, Colonel. 

was essential to life and prosperity. Promoted Brigadier-General, March 

It was so in the natural world. We 21, 1862. 

could see around us that these trees, James George, Lieutenant- Colonel. 

late densely covered with verdure, Promoted Colonel; resigned June 29, 

were now sapless and naked. But 1864. 

after the storms of the coming winter Simeon Smith, Major. Appointed 

life would clothe with brighter ver- Paymaster U. S. A., September, 

dure these same trees. So would it 1861. 

be with our nation. Dangers and Alex. Wilkin, Major. Colonel 9th 

difficulties must be met. A long Minnesota, August, 1862. 



634 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

been organized in July, left Fort Snelling on the thir- 
teenth of October, and, proceeding to Louisville, were 
incorporated with the Army of the Ohio. 

A company of sharp-shoo ters, under Captain F.Peteler, 
proceeded to Washington, and on the eleventh of Octo- 
ber was assigned as Company A, 2d Regiment U. S. 
Sharp-shooters. 

On the sixteenth of November, the 3d Regiment 1 left 
the State and proceeded to Tennessee. 

In December, the 1st Battery Light Artillery left 
and reported for duty at St. Louis, Mo. 

In October and November, three companies of cavalry 
were organized, and proceeded to Benton Barracks, Mis- 
souri, and were ultimately incorporated with the 5th 
Iowa Cavalry. 

The following paragraph of Gorman's Report should have 
appeared on page 681. 

" A portion of the right wing, owing to the configuration of 
the ground, became detached, under Lieut. Col. Miller, whose 
gallantry was conspicuous * * * and who contested every inck 
of the ground/' 

Eeginald Bingham, Surgeon. Dis- Benjamin F. Smith, Lieutenant- 

nissed May 27, 1862. Colonel. Kesigned May 9, 1862. 

M. C. Tollman, Assistant-Surgeon. John A. Hadley, Major. Pro- 
Promoted Surgeon. moted Lieutenant-Colonel, May 29 r 

Timothy Cressey, Chaplain. Be- 1862. 

iigned October 10, 1863. R. C. Olin, Adjutant. 

Daniel D. Heaney, Adjutant. Pro- C. H. Blakeley, appointed January 

noted Captain Company C. 9, 1862. 

William S. Grow, Quartermaster. Levi Butler, Surgeon. Resigned 

Resigned January, 1863. September 30, 1863. 

Prancis R. Milligan, Assistant- 

1 Staff Officers 3d Regiment. Surgeon. Resigned April 8, 1862. 

Henry C. Lester, Colonel. Dis- 
missed December 1, 1862. 



SECOND MINNESOTA REGIMENT. 685 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

MINNESOTA TROOPS IN 1862 — THEIR POSITION AND SERVICES. 

Before the month of January, 1862, expired, the 2d 
Minnesota Regiment won a distinguished reputation. 
On Sunday, the nineteenth, not far from Somerset, 
about forty miles from Danville, Kentucky, they were 
engaged in the battle of Mill Springs. Colonel Robert 
L. McCook, the brigade commander, says : 

"The position of the Minnesota regiment covered 
the ground formerly occupied by the 4th Kentucky and 
10th Indiana, which brought their flank within about 
ten feet of the enemy, when he had advanced upon 
the 4th Kentucky. * * * * On the right of the 
Minnesota regiment the contest was almost hand to 
hand, and the enemy and 2d Minnesota were poking 
their guns at each other through the fence." 

Colonel Yan Cleve made the following report: 

" I have the honour to report the part taken by the 
2d Minnesota Regiment in the action of the Cumber- 
land, on the nineteenth inst. About seven o'clock in 
the morning of that day, and before breakfast, I was 
informed by Colonel Manson, of the 10th Indiana, com- 
manding the Second Brigade of our division, that the 
enemy were advancing in force, and that he was hold- 
ing them in check, and that it was the order of General 



686 



HISTOKY OF MINNESOTA. 



Thomas that I should form my regiment and march 
immediately to the scene of action. 1 

" Within ten minutes we had left our camp. Arriv- 
ing at Logan's Field, by your order we halted in line 
of battle, supporting Standards Battery, which was re- 
turning the fire of the enemy's guns, whose balls and 
shells were falling near us. 

" As soon as the 9th Ohio came up, and had taken 
its position on our right, we continued the march, and 



1 A correspondent of Cincinnati 
Commercial writes : " General Zolli- 
coffer's body lay upon the ground in 
front of one of the Minnesota tents 
surrounded by some twenty soldiers. 
Two soldiers were busy washing off 
the mud with which it had been cov- 
ered. It was almost as white and 
transparent as wax. The fatal wound 
was in the breast, and was evidently 
made by a pistol-ball. This was 
Zollicoffer I He whose name had so 
long been a terror to men who loved 
•their country on the banks of the 
Cumberland." 

Geo. D. Strong, of Company D, 
writes: " We were just in the edge 
of the woods, close to a fence, the 
other side of which were the rebel 
forces resting their guns on the fence. 
My position was next to the regi- 
mental colors, and only fifteen to 
twenty feet from the foe. "We all 
dropped on our knees and behind 
rotten logs, loading and firing as 
rapidly as possible, pouring in a 
fearful fire, which told upon them. 
A momentary silence caused me to 
look round, when I saw one of our 



company, 



W. H. H. Morrow, 



wounded. I assisted in carrying 
him to a safe place. He was shot in 
the right shoulder, the ball turning 



towards the breast. He died two 
hours after I left him." 

W. S. Welles, of Company I, 
writes: "Lieutenant Bailie Peyton 
was shot by Adam Wichet, a Ger- 
man, in Company I. Peyton stood 
exactly in front of the flag, while 
Company D was on the right, and 
Company I on the left of it. 

" Peyton stood about two rods from 
our line, firing right oblique into 
Company I. A bullet from his 
revolver had just severely wounded 
Lieutenant Stout. At this moment 
Lieutenant Uline caught a glimpse 
of him through the smoke, and as 
his revolver was useless, he ordered 
Wichet, who stood by, to shoot him. 
Wichet fired, and Peyton breathed 
his last. The whole charge, a bullet 
and three buckshot, entered the left 
side of his face, taking out the eye, 
and coming out just below the left 
ear." 

A correspondent of the St. Paul 
Press says: " Wm. H. Blake, the 
little drummer-boy of Company H, 
dropped his drum and seizing the 
gun of a wounded man, fought it out 
with us stoutly." 

A DEAD BROTHER. 

"Dear Parents, — I am weary 
and lonesome, and hardly know what 



BATTLE OF MILL SPRINGS. 68T 

after proceeding about a half- mile came upon the 
enemy, who were posted behind a fence along the 
road, beyond which was an open field broken by 
ravines. The enemy opening upon us a galling fire, 
fought desperately, and a hand to hand fight ensued, 
which lasted about thirty minutes. The enemy, met 
with so warm a reception in front, — and afterwards 
being flanked on their left by the 9th Ohio, and on 
their right by a portion of our left, who had, by their 
well-directed fire, driven them from behind their hid- 
ing-places — that they gave way, leaving a large number 
of their dead and wounded on the field. We joined in 
the pursuit, which continued till near sunset, when we 
arrived within a mile of their intrenchments, where we 
rested upon our arms during the night. The next 
morning we marched into their works, which we found 
deserted. Six hundred of our regiment were in the 
engagement, twelve of whom were killed and thirty- 
three wounded." 

to write to you. We have had a great the surgeon, but he said, ' If you call 

battle with Zollicoifer's forces, one him he will leave some poor fellow 

mile and a half from this camp, but that will die, and it may as well be 

I am safe and well. Ten of our poor me as any one.' When he was laid 

boys are killed, and some ten or in his grave he looked as if asleep. I 

fifteen wounded. Dear father and cannot write you the particulars of 

mother, how can I tell you, — but you the battle, for I am so lonesome and 

will hear of it before this gets to you, sad that I have no mind to do any- 

— Samuel has gone to his God. He thing. I have a board at the head 

now sleeps the sleep that knows no of his grave, with his name, regi- 

waking on this earth, beneath the ment, and company cut upon it. Oh, 

cold soil of Kentucky. He died dear father and mother, may God 

charging boldly on the enemy, from help us to bear up under this our 

a bayonet wound in the left groin, affliction ! Good-bye, my dear pa- 

which passed through the kidneys, rents. 

He died in about fifteen minutes after " From your sorrowing son, 

receiving the thrust. He died calmly "Albert. 

and easily, without much pain. One "Camp Logan, January 20, 1862." 
of the drummer-bovs offered to call 



688 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

The 1st Minnesota Battery was present at the great 
battle of Pittsburg Landing, which occurred on Sun- 
day, the sixth of April. Lieutenant W. Pfaender, com- 
manding the battery, in a communication to Governor 
Ramsey, says : 

" The people of our State are probably anxious to 
learn the fate of the Minnesota volunteers who fought 
at the late battle of Pittsburg, Tennessee ; and as the 
1st Minnesota Battery was the only representative of 
our State in the terrible fight, I deem it my duty to 
send you a short account. 

"■ At our arrival here, on the eighteenth of March, 
we were attached to the Fourth Brigade of General 
Sherman's Division, but afterward we were attached 
to General Prentiss's Division ; and on Saturday, the 
fifth, removed to our new camp, immediately on the 
right of General Prentiss's head-quarters. 

" At our arrival at the scene of action, our infantry 
were already retreating. * * * * One of our men 
and two horses were already killed before we com- 
menced firing; another, and third one, all belonging 
to my section, were killed in quick succession. 

" Now Captain Munch's horse was shot in the head, 
and immediately afterward the captain was severely 
wounded in the leg. My horse was wounded in both 
fore-legs. Several other horses had received injuries, 
and our position became critical. * * * * Our 
division now fell back behind the line coming to our 
support under General Hurlbut, and after a short rest 
General Prentiss formed the remainder of our division 
again on the left centre of our line. * * * * Lieu- 
tenant Peebles maintained his position on our left 
nobly, and at a charge of a Louisiana regiment com- 



BATTLE OF PITTSBURG LANDING. 689 

pletely mowed them down with canister. The enemy, 
however, also took good aim ; two of our cannoniers 
were here killed, Lieutenant Peebles severely wounded 
in the jaw, Sergeants Clayton and Conner severely 
wounded, and a number of horses killed. * 

"Arriving at the bluffs of Pittsburg Landing, I tried 
to get the whole battery in the best possible condition 
again, and succeeded, by dismounting and changing 
pieces, to get five pieces in good shape, at least able to 
open fire again. * * * * We located our five 
pieces, together with Margreff's Ohio Battery, on a 
hill commanding a long ravine. * * * * The 
rebels knew that this last attack would decide the day, 
and, about six o'clock in the evening, opened on us 
again. * * * * The 1st Minnesota Battery 
poured in such a cannonade as has never before been 
witnessed on this continent. It was really majestic, 
and no army would have been able to take that posi- 
tion. * * * * A heavy rain-storm had drenched 
us thoroughly during Sunday night, yet the Minnesota 
Battery was ready for another trial; and being without 
an immediate commander, as General Prenjtiss had been 
taken prisoner, I reported to General Grant, who 
ordered me to keep position until further orders; and 
as Monday's fighting was mostly done by General 
Buell's forces, which had been crossing all night, and 
steadily poured in, we remained there until we were 
removed to our old camp again." 1 

1 Lieutenant Cooke writes to a was asked by hundreds of anxious 

friend : voices. Who could answer ? * * 

' ; Our buttery took breakfast ear- But hark I the long roll beats The 

lier than usual, and had just finished bugle sounds 'to arms,' 'to ho#se.' 

when we heard occasional firing A mounted orderly then rode to our 

in front. What does this mean? head-quarters, and the battery re- 

44 



690 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



The 1st Minnesota Regiment, after remaining in 
camp near Edward's Ferry during the winter, moved, 
with Gorman's Brigade, to Harper's Ferry, and crossing 
the Potomac on a pontoon, were attached to Sedg- 
wick's Division, and on the thirteenth of March, 
marched to the suburbs of Winchester, 1 when an order 
came to return, and by the last of the month they had 



ceived orders to repair to the front 
and commence firing immediately. 
In less time than I give you the de- 
tails we were flying to the scene of 
action, which was not five hundred 
yards distant. * * * We poured a 
galling fire into them, until they 
were nearly close enough to make 
a charge and capture our pieces. 

" ' Limber to the front,' and away 
we went into another position. By 
the way, our captain and one corpo- 
ral were wounded as we were exe- 
cuting the above command. We 
had one man killed before we fired a 
gun. Brave boy 1 one of the men 
picked him up, and he remarked, 
'Don't stop with me — stand to your 
posts like men.' He expired soon 
after. He was from Minneapolis. 
* * * * j us t about noon I was 
struck on the thigh by a six-pound 
spent ball. It hit the ground about 
twenty or thirty feet from me, then 
rising, came near taking me off the 
saddle. It struck me right on the 
joint, making me sick and causing 
me to vomit. I sat down by a tree, 
and was called by Lieutenant Pee- 
bles to get some ammunition. I 
could not use my limb. Two of the 
boys helped me, I hobbled to the 
caisson, and, sitting down on the 
trail, issued ammunition. * * * 
Soon after, Johnson was wounded se- 
verely by a musket-ball. A moment 



or two afterwards Tilson was killed^ 
shot through the head. Then Ser- 
geant Clayton was wounded ; then 
Saxdale was killed ; then Sergeant 
Conner was wounded, and immedi- 
ately after Lieutenant Peebles." 

The St. Anthony News publishes 
letter of J. F., to his mother : 

' ' Sunday morning, j us t after break- 
fast, an officer rode up to our captain's 
tent and told him to prepare for ac- 
tion. * * * We wheeled into battery 
and opened upon them. * * * The 
first time we wheeled one of our dri- 
vers was killed ; his name was Colby 
Stinson. Hey wood's horse was shot at 
almost the same time. The second 
time we came into battery the captain 
was wounded in the leg, and his horse 
shot under him. They charged on 
our guns, and on the sixth platoon 
howitzer, but they got hold of the 
wrong end of the gun. We then lim- 
bered up and retreated within the 
line of battle. While we were re- 
treating they shot one of our horses, 
when we had to stop and take him 
out, which let the rebels come up 
rather close. When within about 
six rods, they fired and wounded 
Corporal Davis, of the gun detach- 
ment, breaking his leg above the 
ankle." 

1 While on the march, Col. Alfred 
Sully took command in place of 
Dana, promoted. 



SIEGE OF YORKTOWN. 691 

joined the Army of the Potomac, near Fortress Monroe, 
and, by the middle of April, were taking part in the 
siege of Yorktown, and stationed on a road that led 
from Warwick Court-House to Yorktown. 

The chaplain of the regiment, in one of the St. Paul 
papers, gave the following account of the gradual ad- 
vance from Yorktown to within sight of the spires of 
Richmond : 

"As the telegraph informed you from day to day, 
the Army of the Potomac advanced toward Yorktown 
during the first week in April. Our line extended in 
front of the enemy's works, which were a continued 
chain from the Warwick to York River. 

" Until near the middle of April the soldiers were 
busily employed in cutting new roads through the 
woods, so as to enable our wagons and artillery to move 
without being exposed to the enemy's fire. By the last 
of April the preparation for a siege was fast being com- 
pleted, gabions had been platted, trenches dug, and 
batteries erected. Sedgwick's Division occupied a posi- 
tion midway between Warwick Court-House and York- 
town, on the old Warwick Road. 

" Smith's Division was on our immediate left, and 
watched the enemy at Lee's Mills while we annoyed 
them with our artillery and sharp-shooters at Wynne's 
Mills. 

" Battery No. 8 was erected by our engineers to com- 
mand the enemy's fortifications at Wynne's Mills, and 
would have opened fire in a day or two had they not 
fled. While for two weeks there were frequent dis- 
charges of artillery during the night, on the evening of 
Saturday the 3d of May there was an incessant booming 
of cannon, which suddenly ceased just before the day- 



692 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

break of Sunday. The pickets of General Dana's 
Brigade, noticing the stillness and perceiving no move- 
ment, cautiously approached, and were astonished to 
find that an evacuation had taken place. By sunrise 
the whole of the brigade was within the works of the 
enemy or bivouaced on the fields in the rear. After 
breakfast they were relieved by Gorman's Brigade, who 
passed the day in searching for some memento of the 
place to send home to friends. The correspondence 
left by the troops excited much attention, and was of 
every description, ' from grave to gay, from lively to 
severe,' and very much of it was not fit to be read in 
the presence of ears polite. 

" It was distressing to see a spirit of vandalism mani- 
fested on the part of the troops in searching the houses 
of rebels ; officers in some cases showed neither the dig- 
nity nor discretion of ordinary boys. One major of a New 
York regiment rode into camp on Sunday night with a 
large looking-glass, which could be of no manner of 
use ; and another from the same State, and of similar 
rank, brought in a mahogany rocking-chair, trimmed 
with red velvet, to be lolled in for the night and aban- 
doned or destroyed in the morning. 

" On Monday in a soaking rain the whole division pro- 
ceeded to Yorktown, and bivouaced on the field where, 
in 1781, the troops of Cornwallis surrendered to the 
allied American and French forces. 

" The fortifications near and about Yorktown im- 
press you with trieir magnitude. For months hun- 
dreds of negroes had toiled under task-masters as 
hard as the Egyptians, in throwing up these walls of 
earth. 

" All day Monday we could hear the discharge of 



BATTLE OF WEST POINT. 693 

artillery, indicating that our advance was in proximity 
to the rebel rear. Just before dusk an order came for 
the division to march toward Williamsburg, but the 
troops had not proceeded a half-mile before a halt was 
ordered. The wagon train had blockaded the road 
for miles, and the increasing rain and Egyptian dark- 
ness of the night made it impossible to move. Hour 
after hour, drenched to the skin, the soldiers stood in the 
mud, but no advance, and toward midnight the order 
came to return to camp. 

" The next afternoon the division began to embark 
in transports for the bend of York River, for the pur- 
pose of intercepting the retreat of the enemy, if pos- 
sible. 

" Dana's Brigade first moved off, and then Gorman's, 
and last Burns's. About eleven o'clock on Wednesday, 
Gorman's Brigade came in sight of West Point. The 
sound of musketry, and smoke arising above the woods 
on the south side of the Pamunky, indicated that a 
portion of Franklin's Division, which had preceded 
Sedgwick's, was engaged with the enemy. The 1st 
Minnesota was ordered to leave their transports and 
land in batteaux as soon as possible. The wide plain 
on the lower side of the Pamunky was soon filled with 
regiments drawn up in the line of battle, ready to sup- 
port Franklin's troops if necessary. About one o'clock 
p.m., the enemy, with three cannon, began to fire from 
the wooded heights on the transports, but three United 
States gunboats quickly took position, and their heavy 
guns in thunder notes soon silenced the battery on the 
hill. 

"As one travels through this peninsula, he con- 
stantly meets with places, rich in historic interest. 



694 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

" West Point, the terminus of the York and Rich- 
mond Railway, was originally called West's Point, after 
a gentleman, a near relative of Lord Delaware, whose 
plantation was on the promontory caused by the junc- 
tion of the Pamunky and Mattapony Rivers. 

" To give room for the stores and troops that were 
moving. Sedgwick's Division, during the second week 
of May, moved their camp to Eltham, on the Pa- 
munky, a few miles above. 

" This, like West Point, proved to be a place of his- 
torical associations. The huge though dilapidated 
brick mansion, with its extensive wings, and the hand- 
some sepulchre in the garden, showed that once no 
mean person had lived here. 

" The inscription upon the large and handsome mon- 
ument in the high-walled graveyard tells us that on 
this plantation lived the Hon. William Bassett, who 
died in 1727, 'a loss to his country, county, and family.' 
On Sunday morning, the eighteenth of May, the di- 
vision was at New Kent Court-House. 

" For several days we remained on the plantation 
of a Dr. Mayo, the brother-in-law of General Scott, 
but now a rebel and fugitive. This place is about two 
miles from Cumberland. Departing from here on Wed- 
nesday, we passed the old St. Peter's Church. 

"It is an antique brick structure, with open porch 
and tower in front, giving it a quaint appearance, al- 
though conformed to no particular order of archi- 
tecture. 

" Here, for forty years, as a tablet on the wall near 
the chancel, with Latin inscriptions, informs us, preached 
the Rev. David Mossom, a graduate of St. John's Col- 
lege, Cambridge, and the second to few in learning, the 



GORMAN'S BRIGADE. 695 

first presbyter of the Church of England specially or- 
dained to preach in Virginia. 

" The building is without pews, and filled with single 
heavy seats, but every one that could draw made a 
sketch of it, because it was in this church that George 
Washington did take for his lawfully wedded wife that 
lovely and dignified young widow, Martha Custis, 
whose estate was near by. In the corner, by the front 
door of the church, there is a little table with old- 
fashioned legs, not much larger than a small card-table, 
from which the newly married pair are said to have 
taken their first breakfast. 

" That evening we arrived at the Savage Farm, 
the fourteen-mile station on the Richmond and 
York Railroad, and a mile and a half from Bottoms 
Bridge. 

" On Friday, the twenty-third, we encamped at Goodly 
Hole Creek, in Hanover County, a short distance from 
the Chickahominy. 

" The next week Gorman's Brigade moved up to Cold 
Harbor, but on Thursday they returned to Goodly 
Hole Creek. 

"About noon on Saturday, the thirty-first of May, 
we heard rapid musketry firing, and at three o'clock 
a message came for Sedgwick to move, as Casey's and 
Couch's Divisions were being driven by the enemy. 
By a road that had just been cut through the swamp, 
we hastened to the rescue, and, crossing a rude bridge 
of logs, both ends submerged by the waters of the 
swollen Chickahominy, reached the battle-field just in 
time to save defeat. 

" Our regiment, as at Bull Run, was placed on the 
right, and before we were fairly in line of battle the 



696 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

enemy were seen advancing. A crash of musketry, 
like the snapping of limbs in a hurricane, greeted us. 

" In a few minutes the whole of Gorman's Brigade 
was drawn up in a field within a few hundred feet of 
the rebels, who were concealed in the woods. 

" For two or three hours, until it became perfectly 
dark, the brigade stood solid as a stone wall, and with 
a roar of musketry really terrific, kept the foe from 
advancing one foot." 

A correspondent of a Cincinnati paper graphically 
describes the action : 

" At about six o'clock the head of Sedgwick's 
column, Gorman's Brigade, deployed into line of bat- 
tle, in the rear of Fair Oaks, upon the crest of a hill r 
which was in the centre of an open field, a farm-house 
(Adams's) bisecting his line, which stretched from the 
north-west, on a line which if prolonged in a south-east- 
erly direction, would have cut the railroad at an acute 
angle on his left. The hill sloped gently towards the 
station. Colonel Sully's 1st Minnesota, and the 2d New 
York, Lieutenant-Colonel Hudson, composed the right 
wing, on one side of the house, the 34th New York, 
Colonel Senter, constituting the left, the 15th Massa- 
chusetts, Lieutenant-Colonel Kimball commanding, sup- 
porting Kirby's Battery, which was posted at the right, 
of the line, and trained at a point of woods a little to 
the left of the railway station, this being the field to 
which the enemy had driven General Abercrornbie. 
Two of his regiments were still stubbornly contesting 
the field. Colonel Cochrane's 1st U. S. Chasseurs (N. Y.) r 
and Colonel Neill's 23d Pennsylvania Regiment, and 
a Pennsylvania battery, were in line of battle at Gor- 
man's right, forming an obtuse angle projecting towards. 






BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS. 69T 

the battery. General Burns formed his brigade in line 
of battalions in mass, forming the second line in sup- 
port of Gorman. But one of the regiments had not 
formed, when the enemy opened a furious enfilading 
fire of musketry on our right, in a direction from which 
fire was not expected, indicating an effort to turn our 
right flank. Meantime part of Dana's Brigade had 
come up. His 19th Massachusetts and 42d New York 
had been detached for picket duty and artillery guards. 
His 7th Michigan and 20th Massachusetts deployed 
into line on Gorman's left, and the line of battle com- 
menced, moving to the right, delivering terrific volleys 
at the enemy, who were sweeping in force to their left. 
Again and again they pushed forward. Masses of them 
gathered in the forest, attempting to dash at the bat- 
tery, but were as often swept back by murderous hur- 
ricanes of lead and canister. The battle raged for 
two hours with unremitting fury. The rebels found it 
impossible to break our inflexible lines, and we found 
it difficult to shake him off. Dana's wing was finally 
swung around almost on the hypothenuse of an angle 
to the original line of battle, his gallant Michigan and 
Bay State lads sweeping the perimeter of the circle 
they were describing with irresistible fury. Gorman's 
line had extended itself on the right, until his left 
rested in front and in advance of the first position 
of his right, his line being swung round at right 
angles with the crest of the hill, and Burns's two regi- 
ments, executing the order of Sedgwick, found them- 
selves lapping over Gorman's extreme right; the enemy 
was fighting perpendicular to our old front. 

" The officers were all in their places, animating 
and encouraging the men by their example, and the 



698 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

men moving unflinchingly towards the foe. Dana, on 
the left, narrowly escaped death. His dashing gray 
received a bullet in his head, which he cast off with a 
snort of despair. The next instant three balls struck 
him in the body. Rearing and plunging with col. 
vulsive agony, he dismounted his rider, fled frantically 
up the field, and fell dead in front of Kirby's Battery. 
Gorman was moving up and down his glorious line, 
exhibiting fiery enthusiasm, and enjoying the proudest 
hours of his life. The men were delivering their fire 
with admirable coolness and regularity, and with a 
quick, nervous energy, which indicated their determi- 
nation to decide the conflict. The enemy, too, fought 
rapidly and well. 

"Sedgwick was gallantly moving to the right and 
left, reckless of personal hazard; and Burns held his 
forces firmly in hand on the right, waiting the decisive 
moment. The sun had set grimly, flinging his last 
rays feebly through the thick smoke hovering over the 
field. Darkness had enveloped the fearful spectacle, 
only to add gloom to its horrors. The enemy still 
clung in masses to the thick woods, now and then 
dashing out at the battery, only to be driven back 
with cruel punishment. Thousands of muskets in 
streaming volleys, with the sonorous roar of the can- 
non and the hoarse screams of the combatants, created 
an uproar as if fiends had been unleashed to prey upon 
each other. Storms of bullets and canister tore wide 
passages through the trees, and mangled bodies of men. 
Baleful fires gleamed among the foliage, as if myriads 
of huge fireflies were flitting among the boughs, and 
there was a fringe of flame blazing on the skirts of the 
thickets, while outside another and a fiercer flame 



SEVEN DAYS' BATTLES. 699 

girdling the centre seemed burning into the hedge 
which screened our enemy. It was past eight o'clock 
before the carnage ceased. Knowing that the foe was 
in superior force, and menacing our flank, we were 
compelled to meet his point of attack without attempt- 
ing to envelope him with our wings ; but finding our 
steady lines invulnerable, and having suffered wretch- 
edly, he finally fell back, and by half-past eight o'clock 
he was driven clear back to his own defensive line. 
The splendid conduct of the division elicited the 
plaudits of the whole army. General Sumner held 
his troops well in hand ; Sedgwick exhibited perfect 
■coolness and courage ; Gorman was as enthusiastic as 
a boy, and firm as a rock; Burns's quick judgment and 
admirable conduct, at the most critical moment of 
action, undoubtedly had an inspiring influence, and it 
was acknowledged with frenzied acclamations by the 
stout regiments wherever he exhibited himself. No 
more could have been asked of Dana. He proved him- 
self a fearless soldier. Colonel John Cochrane, Colonel 
Neill, Colonel Sully, Colonel Senter, and indeed nearly 
every field officer in all the divisions engaged, except- 
ing Casey's, showed themselves good soldiers and brave 
officers." 

On Thursday, the twenty-sixth of June, the soldiers 
of Sumner's corps were made anxious by the continual 
firing at Mechanicsville, and on Friday occurred the 
disastrous conflict at Gaines's Mill. At daylight on 
Saturday morning, the serious face of General Sedg- 
wick told the soldiers of the division that a crisis had 
been reached. All that day the sick of Sumner's corps 
were hurried to the rear, and in the afternoon soldiers 
were employed in emptying all surplus ammunition 



700 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

into the vats of a tannery near the Fair Oaks battle* 
field, showing that a rapid change of base was con- 
templated. 

Just before daylight, on Sunday, June twenty-ninth, 
Sedgwick's Division left the position that it had held 
since the battle of Fair Oaks, and proceeding less 
than two miles the enemy made their appearance, and 
after a brief and sharp fight, in a peach orchard, 
retired. 

About five p.m., at Savage Station, 1 on the York 
Railroad, the enemy again gave battle. Until dark 
the conflict, raged, but by the valour and coolness of our 
men the foe were held in check, with a loss of about 
eighty killed and wounded. 

On Monday, between White Oak Swamp and Wil- 
lis's Church, the enemy again appeared, and in the 
skirmish Captain Colville was slightly wounded. The 

1 Sergeant Harmon, Company D, from the battle field at Bull Kun ; 

writes : he was a fine fellow as well as- 

" About 4 p.m. the rebels came upon brave. Every man in the regiment 

us and commenced shelling us; several was his friend. He was shot by a 

of the boys in our regiment were minie ball through the lungs, and 

wounded by them. "We laid down on killed instantly, and the colors fell 

the ground. McCaslin had his knap- to the ground. They were raised by 

sack torn from his back by a piece one of the guard. Our company was- 

of a shell. "We moved forward to the very fortunate not to lose any one. 

left into the woods, out of range of Joseph McDonald, a son of McDon- 

the battery in that direction, to sup- aid that lives opposite Elk Eiver, was 

port another regiment that was fight- wounded, but not seriously. Judson 

ing on the left. The fight lasted here Jordan, a brother of C. B. Jordan, 

until after dark, the whole division was killed ; he was a member of the 

being engaged, besides the Vermont 1st Michigan. This was Sunday's 

Brigade in Smith's Division. The fight at Savage's Station. About 

rebels got driven back. We lost out 10 p.m. we started on the march, 

of our regiment in this fight about leaving the wounded, that could 

thirty killed and wounded. not walk, in old buildings ; sur- 

" Sergeant Burgess, the color- geons and hospital stewards stopped 

bearer, was shot dead: he was the with them." 
man that brought the colors off 






MALVERN AND ANTIBTAM. 701 

next day, July first, the 1st Regiment was drawn up 
at the dividing line of Charles City and Henrico coun- 
ties, in sight of James River, and although much ex- 
posed to the enemy's batteries was not actually engaged. 
At midnight the order was given to move to James 
River, and early on the second of July they encamped 
on the Berkeley plantation, where President Harrison 
was born. 

After Pope's repulse, General McClellan resumed 
command of the army, and Sumner's corps, with others, 
were advanced north of Washington to meet Lee, who 
had crossed the Potomac with the insurgent army. 
By forced marches Sedgwick's Division arrived near 
Sharpsburg, Maryland, and took part in the great battle 
of seventeenth of September. After an active contest the 
1st Regiment was flanked by the enemy, and they were 
obliged to fall back. Captain Russell's company of 
sharp-shooters was attached to the regiment during 
this fight. 

The 4th Regiment and 2d Minnesota Battery, on 
April twenty-first, left St. Paul for Benton Barracks, 
Missouri. They were both assigned to the Army of 
the Mississippi. The 5th Regiment also departed on the 
thirteenth of May, and on the twenty-third took posi- 
tion with their comrades of the 2d and 4th Regiments 
near Corinth, Mississippi. In less than a week they 
were brought into action, and Second Lieutenant David 
Oakes was killed. A correspondent writes : 

" On Wednesday, the twenty-eighth, there was heavy 
cannonading during the entire day. At ten o'clock in 
the morning a force of Federal infantry was thrown 
out to plant a 24-pound Parrott gun upon an eminence 
commanding a piece of timber on our left, which shel- 



702 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA, 

tered the rebel regiment who so continually annoyed 
us. The enemy discovering our intentions advanced 
a body of troops to take the gun. Our forces were im- 
mediately drawn up in line of battle. Not a man 
stirred from the ranks until the enemy approached 
within fifty yards of our line, when Colonel Purcell, of 
10th Iowa, acting brigadier, ordered the 5th Minnesota 
to charge bayonets. * * * * Terribly did they re- 
venge their fallen comrades. The casualties to the 5th 
Minnesota did not exceed forty killed and wounded. 
This is a new regiment, and this is the first occasion 
they have been able to show the material of which they 
have been made." 1 

On the eighteenth of September, Colonel Sanborn, 
acting as brigade commander in the Third Division of 
the Army of the Mississippi, moved his troops, includ- 
ing the 4th Minnesota Regiment, to a point on the 

1 STAFF OFFICERS OF 4TH REGIMENT. STAFF OFFICERS OF 5TH REGIMENT. 

John B. Sanborn, Colonel. Made Kudolph Borgensrode, Colonel. 

Brigadier-General. Kesigned Aug. 31, 1862. 

Minor T. Thomas, Lieutenant' Lucius F. Hubbard, Lieutenant- 
Colonel. Made Colonel 8th Kegi- Colonel. Promoted Colonel Aug. 31, 
ment, August 24, 1862. 1862. 

A. Edward Welch, Major. Died William B. Gere, Major. Pro- 

t Nashville, Feb. 1, 1864. moted Lieutenant-Colonel. 

John M. Thompson, Adjutant. Alpheus K. French, Adjutant. 

romoted Captain Company E, Kesigned March 19, 1863. 
Nov. 20, 1862. Wm. B. McGrorty, quartermaster. 

Thomas B. Hunt, Quartermaster. Kesigned Sept. 15, 1864. 
Made Captain and Assistant Quarter- Francis B. Etheridge, Surgeon. 

master April 9, 1863. Kesigned Sept. 3, 1862. 

John H. Murphy, Surgeon. Ke- Vincent P. Kennedy, Assistant- 

signed July 9, 1863. Surgeon. Promoted Surgeon Sept. 3, 

- ElishaW. Cross, Assistant-Surgeon. 1862. 
Promoted July 9, 1863. James F. Chaffee, Chaplain. Re- 

Asu S. Fiske, Chaplain. Kesigned signed June 23, 1862. 
Oct. 3, 1864. John Ireland, Chaplain. Appointed 

June, 1862. Kesigned April, 1863. 






BATTLE OF IUKA. 703 

Tuscumbia road, and the next day advanced towards 
Iuka, driving pickets to enemy's position. Under 
the fire of the enemy's battery he placed his troops in 
line of battle, and the 4th Minnesota was stationed on 
the crest of a ridge. Captain Legro, in command of 
the regiment, reported as follows : 

" At five p.m. I moved my command at double-quick 
to a position on the left of the 48th Indiana, which 
regiment was in support of the 11th Ohio Battery, 
commanded by Lieutenant Sears. Shortly after, the 
battle was opened by the battery, and raged fiercely 
along the line for half an hour, when the 48th Indiana, 
being ^compelled to give way, fell back to the edge of 
the woods, leaving my regiment exposed to an oblique 
fire in the rear from the advancing enemy. 

" I then ordered the right wing to fall back ten rods 
to the timber, which was accomplished in good order, 
notwithstanding the galling and incessant fire of the 

" I was then ordered to move by the right flank 
about forty rods up the road, at nearly a right angle 
to- my former position, then by the left flank to a point 
near the battery, which I did immediately. * 

u Throughout the whole, both officers and men be- 
haved with coolness and courage, conducting them- 
selves in a manner highly commendable. 

" Too much praise cannot be awarded to Surgeon J. 
H. Murphy and his assistants for their unceasing at- 
tention to the wounded through the action and during 
the night. I enclose a list of the killed, wounded, and 
missing." 

The battle of Iuka was but the beginning of the 
movement that in a few days culminated at Corinth, 



704 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA 

in which conflict the 1st Minnesota Battery and the 
4th and 5th Regiments participated. At Corinth the 
Union army faced northward. On the left centre the 
ground was quite hilly, and here the Chevally road 
entered the town. Fort Robinett with Fort Williams 
enfiladed the Chevally and Bolivar roads, and another 
fort on the extreme left, near the seminary, protected 
the left and strengthened the centre. 

Hamilton's Division, to which the 4th Regiment w r as 
attached, was on the extreme right, and Stanley's 
Division, to which the 5th belonged, was on the left. 

Captain Munch, in a communication to Governor 
Ramsey, says : 

" On the first [of October] the battery, then stationed 
in town, was ordered out to take up camp at Fort No. 
F, one of the forts on our western line of defence, about 
two miles from town. Not yet fairly in camp there, 
we received orders to send two of the pieces (two 12- 
pound howitzers) to Chevally to support a brigade of 
infantry then at that place. * * * * As I was 
not legally reinstated in my command yet, and almost 
too lame for any hard work, Lieutenant Clayton was 
sent with that section, I retaining the other in the fort. 
They went as far as Chevally that evening, when they 
found the enemy entering the town from the opposite 
side. Not strong enough to offer much resistance, our 
forces fell baok about a mile, and took up camp for 
the night. On the second day there was skirmishing 
all day along the road, no artillery engaged on the 
same. 

" Early on Tuesday morning, the third, our boys 
opened the ball with the two howitzers, and to judge 
from the rapid succession of reports, they must have 



BATTLE OF CORINTH. Y05 

been well to work, and by their cool and unflinching 
attention to their duty earned the praise of the com- 
manding general. Lieutenant Clayton has shown good 
judgment in taking positions, and by the general man- 
agement of affairs gave evidence that he well earned 
the confidence you kindly reposed in him. 

u In the meantime I was placed in command of the 
remaining section of our battery, together with a sec- 
tion of the 3d Ohio Battery. I planted them all in the 
fort. At eight o'clock p.m., a report was sent in that 
one of the howitzers was disabled, not by the fire of the 
enemy, but by the weakness of the carriage, which 
broke by the recoil of the piece. As they could not 
drag it along fast enough, the enemy then being in hot 
pursuit, with greatly superior numbers, they spiked 
the piece, throwing it into a deep creek, rendering it 
useless to 'the enemy. 

" Another piece was immediately sent to replace it. 
This after a few rounds was disabled and brought to 
the rear, when the last piece of the battery was sent 
forward. The battery then had an excellent position 
across the railroad, and did great execution. By and 
by. the little command became so exhausted by heat, 
thirst, and hard work, that it became necessary to order 
them to the rear, and replace them by new troops. But 
the enemy soon became so numerous that it made any 
further resistance at that place useless, and a general 
retreat was ordered, which was carried out in good 
shape. The musketry became general along the lines, 
and we could discover heavy columns moving forward. 
The enemy planted a battery in range for our fort, and 
commenced throwing shells, which were well directed, 
but could not injure us much behind the breastworks; 
45 



706 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

we of course were not lazy to answer, and our second 
shot silenced their battery. 

" At four o'clock p.m., all the forces were drawn into 
the inner line of defences, and both armies rested for 
the night. Our battery took a good position near the 
seminary, and during the second day of the fight as- 
sisted the big guns of the forts to clear the woods across 
the abattis. After the enemy were so deadly repulsed 
in their effort to take the town, they commenced re- 
treating in their common way, by sending in a flag of 
truce purporting to bury their dead." 

Colonel J. B. Sanborn, in his report to his superior 
officer, says : 

" At about a quarter before five o'clock I advanced 
my line by your order across the field in my front, to- 
wards a heavy growth of timber, where our skirmishers 
had encountered the enemy in some force. Company 
K was again deployed forward as skirmishers, and had 
advanced but a short distance in a westwardly direction, 
before they drew a very heavy musketry fire from the 
enemy concealed in the timber. In the meantime I had 
wheeled my battalion to his left, so that I was fronting 
the southwest. At this time, the fire of the enemy was 
brisk and enfiladed nearly my whole line. At this 
moment Captain Mowers beckoned to me with his sword, 
as if he desired to communicate important information, 
and I started towards him upon a gallop, but had rode 
but a few steps when I saw him fall dead — shot through 
the head. From the course of the balls and the position 
the enemy seemed to occupy, I interpreted the informa- 
tion that Captain Mowers desired to give, to be that the 
enemy were passing to my rear by my right, my com- 
mand at this time holding the right of the infantrv in 



COLONEL SANBORN'S REPORT. 70"? 

the whole army. These impressions were immediately 
communicated to the general commanding the brigade, 
and I received orders to dislodge the enemy from the 
woods on my right. I at once changed the front of my 
battalion to the rear on the tenth (10th) company ; this 
was done under a heavy fire of musketry, in ' double- 
quick' time, but with as much coolness and precision as if 
on ordinary battalion drill. 

" This movement completed, I ordered the regiment 
forward at ' quick time' until within about one hundred 
and fifty paces of the enemy's line of battle at this point, 
when I gave the further command, 'forward one hun- 
dred and fifty paces, double-quick.' This was executed 
in the most gallant and splendid manner. The regiment, 
in perfect line and with triumphant shouts, rushed for- 
ward against a most murderous fire, and w T hen within 
fifty yards of the enemy's line, he fled to the rear with 
the greatest precipitancy, receiving two or three volleys 
from my regiment as he retired. Immediately after 
this was accomplished, I received your order to fall back 
and join Colonel Alexander (59th Indiana) on his right, 
which order was at once obeyed, and skirmishers thrown 
forward one hundred paces to my front, and around my 
right flank. 

" It was now night. We were exhausted, and obe- 
dient to orders, I moved to the first position held in the 
morning and bivouaced there at 11 P. >r. During the 
day my loss was one commissioned officer and one 
private killed, and four men wounded. The heat 
during the engagement of my command was most in- 
tense, said to be 108° in the shade, and more men were 
carried off the field on litters from the effect of sunstroke 
than from wounds. 



»708 , HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

" Ammunition was distributed to the men, so that 
each had seventy-five rounds, between eleven and one 
o'clock at night, and at half-past one I received your 
order to move my command to the right, across the 
Pittsburg and Hamburg road, and about one hundred 
yards to the rear, which was done at once, and the 
regiment stood to arms, fronting the north, for the re- 
maining part of the night. 

"■ My command remained in this position until half- 
past ten o'clock on the following morning, when I re- 
ceived your order to move by the left flank into position 
on the ridge at my left, in support of the 11th Ohio 
Battery. This order was at once executed and my front 
changed to the west. I formed my regiment about fifty 
feet in rear of this battery, which masked the six 
centre companies. These six companies were ordered 
by me to fix bayonets, and charge the enemy whenever 
he should charge upon the battery. Two companies 
on the right and two on the left were moved forward on 
the line of the guns of the battery, with instructions to 
engage the enemy with musketry wherever he might ap- 
pear, and meet him with the bayonet in case of a charge. 

" The enemy retired from the ground covered by the 
valley, and from the front of my regiment, in about forty 
minutes after the firing commenced. I maintained the 
same relative position to the battery in its movements 
upon the field, to get in rear of the enemy, until your 
orders came to occupy again the ground left, when I 
went into action. I at once reoccupied that position, 
where I remained until the morning of the 5th inst., 
at four o'clock, when the pursuit commenced. 

" In the engagement on the fourth I lost one commis- 
sioned officer, and five privates wounded. 



FOURTH REGIMENT AT CORINTH. 709 

u Of the pursuit it is enough to report that it was 
commenced on Sunday morning, the fifth inst., and 
continued without cessation or delay, except such as was 
absolutely necessary to rest the men temporarily, until 
the following Saturday night, the troops having marched 
during the time about one hundred and twenty miles. 

K I cannot speak too highly of the patient endurance 
and valor of my command. During a period of nine 
days of the most heated and most uncomfortable weather, 
my regiment marched one hundred and thirty miles, 
and for two days and nights of that time were engaged 
in one of the most extensive and desperate battles of 
the war. The conduct of all officers was satisfactory. 
Captains Tourtellotte and Edson conducted themselves 
with most extraordinary coolness and determination. 

" My commissioned staff, First Lieutenant Thomas 
B. Hunt, Eegimental Quartermaster, and First Lieu- 
tenant John M. Thompson, Adjutant, behaved with 
coolness and judgment, and in the absence of other field 
officers rendered me efficient service, repeating com- 
mands and communicating orders. 

" Quartermaster-Sergeant Frank E. Collins, for dis- 
tinguished valor and services on the field in aiding me 
in every movement, and in arresting and bringing pris- 
oners from the field near the close of the engagement, 
deserves special mention. Commissary-Sergeant T. P. 
Wilson remained under fire all the time, directing 
litter carriers to the wounded, and furnishing water to 
the famishing soldiers, as well as repeating my com- 
mands when near the lines. 

Sergeant-Major Kittredge was among the coolest men 
on the field, and most efficient until he was overcome 
by sunstroke. 



710 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

" Surgeon Dr. J. H. Murphy, and second Assistant 
Surgeon Dr. H. R. Wedel, conducted their department 
with perfect order and method. Every wound was 
dressed in a few moments after it was received, and the 
wounded cared for at once in the most tender manner." 

Colonel L. F. Hubbard, of the 5th Regiment, reported 
as follows : 

" We were aroused before dawn on the morning of 
the fourth inst. by the discharges of the enemy's guns, and 
the bursting of his shells in the immediate vicinity of 
where we lay. One man of my regiment was quite 
severely wounded here by a fragment of a shell. At 
about 9 A. M., I was ordered by General Stanley to de- 
ploy one company, as skirmishers, into the edge of the 
timber towards the front and right ; in obedience to 
which Company A was sent forward under command 
of Captain J. R.^Dart. A few moments later the advance 
of the enemy along our entire line was made. I soon 
observed that the part of our line running from near 
my right towards the rear was giving way, and that 
the enemy was rapidly gaining ground towards the town. 
I immediately changed front, moving by the right flank 
by file right, and took a position at right angles to my 
former one. The movement was but just completed, 
when I was ordered by General Stanley, through Major 
Coleman, to support a battery which had been in posi- 
tion about four hundred yards towards the front and 
right, but which was being driven from the field. I 
moved by the right flank at double-quick, a distance 
of perhaps two hundred yards. By this time the battery 
mentioned had retired from the field entirely. Captain 
Dee's Michigan Battery, occupying the crest of a ridge 
near the Mobile and Ohio Railroad towards the left, had 



BATTLE OF CORINTH. 



711 



been abandoned and fallen into the hands of the enemy. 
Our line for the distance of several hundred yards had 
been repulsed, became scattered, and was rapidly re- 
treating. The enemy, in considerable numbers, had 
already entered the streets of the town from the north, 
and was pushing vigorously forward. 1 His flank was 
presented to the line I had formed, which exposed 
him to a most destructive fire, and which the 5th Min- 



1 Rev. John Ireland, appointed, on 
twenty -second of June, chaplain, 
writes : 

' ; On the night of the third we 
quietly took our rest in one of the 
central squares of Corinth, on a line 
parallel with the Mobile and Colum- 
bus Railroad. There we remained, 
while the shells were bursting over 
our heads before daybreak on the 
morning of the fourth ; from there we 
were at full liberty to contemplate the 
fight going on in our centre, and on 
the extreme part of our right, there 
j»**a|«M&£H*&a^ between 
us and these portions of our lines. 
* * * * * * 

" We turn around, and great is our 
surprise. At the lower end of the 
square the artillery are skedaddling 
with an astounding rapidity ; the in- 
fantry rush in through every inlet; 
the citizens and all idle gazers-on 
disappear in a second ; the Butternuts 
emerge from the streets leading into 
the square. It was a solemn moment ; 
then, indeed, as one of our generals 
remarks, the fate of the day hung 
in the balance, and little time was 
left for reflection. What were we 
able to do ? Were we to join in, 
allow ourselves to be carried off by 
the torrent, and turn ingloriously our 
backs to the enemy? For any not 



prodigal of their blood in the per- 
formance of their duty, such was the 
course to be taken. But far from the 
minds of our brave boys was the 
thought of assuring their safety in 
flight. Of them it may verily be said, 
as of another gallant band of yore, 
' They can fight or die, but neither 
surrender or run!' Our men in- 
stinctively rush to their arms ; Col- 
onel Hubbard, with the most re- 
markable presence of mind, at one 
glance sees all the danger. Imme- 
diately his voice is heard, amid all 
--the-ku*Ue And ucoifusion ; ,he gives 
orders to move and to take up a po- 
sition at right angles with his former 
one ; it was then that an aid-de-camp 
of General Stanley rode by and 
shouted out, ' Support that battery at 
the right ! ' Perplexing order ! for at 
that moment, of the two batteries that 
were stationed to the right, one was 
abandoned and the other was being 
driven from the field. Our colonel, 
not in the least dismayed, fronts his 
men towards where he perceives the 
enemy rushing into the town. Oh, 
what an admirable spectacle, to gaze 
then on our brave boys ! With what 
unanimity, with what rapidity, what 
visible coolness and unflinching cour- 
age, they poured in volley after volley 
into the ranks of their opponents! 



712 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



nesota delivered with deadly effect. After receiving 
and returning a number of volleys, the enen.y began 
to fall back. I then moved forward in line, at a run, 
pressing hard upon the enemy, who was flying in great 
confusion." I moved on outside the town, and halted 
on the crest of a ridge to the left of, and on a line with, 
the former position of the battery I was ordered to sup- 
port, regaining, meantime, possession of the abandoned 



The latter, who, doubtless, a few mo- 
ments before, elated by their previous 
success, had thought that Corinth 
was once more theirs, and had emitted 
a contemptuous smile when a hand- 
ful of men proposed to contest their 
passage, staggered, broke ranks and 
turned. And hotly were they pur- 
sued through a narrow street, until 
they reached the limits of the town, 
and concealed themselves in the 
woods. Our men then halted, and 
wondered at what they had accom- 
plished. Had we not encountered 
the rebels, the town was in their 
hands, they might have destroyed it 
together with all our stores, and 
taken our other forces in the rear, 
placing them between two fires, and 
triumphed: — and by whom was 
Corinth saved ? by the 5th Minne- 
sota alone, by six companies, Com- 
pany A having been sent out skir- 
mishing in another direction. 

" I am proud of the 5th Eegiment, 
and every one here feels proud of it. 
Great is our renown in this army. 
The other regiments fully appreciate 
our valor ; our praise is on every 
tongue. Privates and officers are of 
the same sentiment, when the Min- 
nesota Fifth is mentioned." 

A private in the regiment writes : 
" Noxt morning [October fourth] 



we were awoke by a shell from one 
of the enemy's guns, which had been 
adroitly planted very near us. It 
came so near where I was sleeping 
that when it struck it dashed the 
earth all over me. The fire continued 
for about fifteen minutes, when one 
of our batteries put a stop to it. One 
hour later the enemy advanced on 
all sides, and the cannonading became 
general, and the fight became close, 
fierce, and bloody. The rebels charged 
a battery and succeeded in getting 
inside of cannon range, and it was 
left between a large force of rebels 
and a smaller number of federal sol- 
diers hand to hand. Many of our 
brave boys fell, but the clay-colored 
ruffians were repulsed. 

" When the rebels made the charge 
on the north side, the 63d Ohio gave 
way, and finally all our forces on that 
side skedaddled in every direction. 
We were held as a reserve, but at 
that moment were called on by one 
of General Stanley's aids to save the 
town. We marched double-quick 
into the very face of the advancing 
enemy and formed in line of battle. 
Just before we formed some of our 
half-breeds fired on and killed three 
rebel color-bearers in plain sight, and 
one of our men was killed. We then 
gave them our best, and after firing 



FIFTH REGIMENT AT CORINTH. 



713 



guns of the Michigan Battery. The enemy continued 
his retreat under a galling fire from our guns and the 
artillery of the forts on the left, until lost sight of in 
the woods in our front, when he re-formed, and again 
advanced in considerable force. I at once opened upon 
him a hot fire, which, with the fire from along the line 
upon my right, which had now rallied and was re-form- 
ing, arrested his progress, and soon drove him back 
under cover of the timber. 



five or six rounds the enemy gave 
way, and the little Fifth followed 
them up so fast that they were com- 
pelled to skedaddle in the quickest 
manner that their long legs could 
invent. They, however, met their re- 
serves and re-formed in the edge of 
the woods. We did the same. They 
advanced while we stood firm as a 
wall, and after we opened fire on them 
the\- came to a dead halt. We could 
hear their officers exhort them to ' for- 
ward,-' but they knelt lower and lower 
behind the logs and brush. Their 
fire slackened and their colonel was 
shot from his saddle. (This was Col- 
onel Johnson, of the 15th Arkansas.) 
Their color-bearer placed himself 
behind a large oak-tree, and waved 
his flag on one side, but took care not 
to show his precious body. 

" After remaining for some time 
under our rifle range, they returned, 
leaving many of their number on the 
field, dead or wounded, besides some 
who would not follow any longer. 
Our loss was six killed and thirty- 
three wounded. When we charged 
on the enemy, General Eosecrans 
asked what little regiment that was, 
and on being told, said that the 5th 
Minnesota had saved the town. Major 



Coleman, General Stanley's assist- 
ant adjutant-general, was with us 
when he received his death wound, 
and his last words were, ' Tell the gen- 
eral that the 5th Minnesota fought 
nobly, God bless the 5th!' Some of 
the boys of the 11th Missouri call us 
General Stanley's bully regiment. 

"Colonel Hubbard is now com- 
manding the brigade, Colonel Mower 
being in the hospital. It was an 
awful sight to pass over the battle- 
field, — men lying on their heads, 
others with their heads blown off, 
arms, hands, and feet scattered about, 
and dead and dying lying all around, 
some in heaps. It was a sight that 
I do not want to see again, but God 
only knows how soon it will again 
happen. On Sunday, when we started 
to follow retreating Price, the stench 
was rising from some parts of the 
battle-field. We had a hard time 
running after Price, took a great 
many prisoners, and had to march 
night and day. I was so sleepy 
sometimes that I could go to sleep 
walking if I would allow m\-self, 
We went as far as Ripley, but have 
at last been allowed to rest. I cap- 
tured two secesh swords. 

" Lieutenant-Colonel Gere is very 



7U HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

" About forty prisoners fell into our hands, and large 
numbers of killed and wounded marked the line of the 
enemy's retreat. The regiment expended near fifty 
rounds of ammunition. I feel authorized in referring 
especially to the coolness and courage of the officers and 
men of my command, and their general good conduct 
during the action." 

A few days after the battle of Corinth, Buell's army 
attacked Bragg at Perryville, Kentucky, and here the 
2d Minnesota Battery, Captain W. A. Hotchkiss, did 
good service. A correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, 
describing the conflict, says : 

" The 2d Minnesota Battery, Captain Hotchkiss, 
came up nearly at the same time with the 2d Missouri 
Infantry, and by delivering a well-directed fire upon 
the flank of the rebels, assisted materially in driving 
them from the woods." 

In the battle of Fredericksburg, on the thirteenth of 
December, the 1st Regiment supported Kirby's Bat- 
tery, and retired to camp near Falmouth, Virginia, with- 
out serious loss. 

The position of the 3d Regiment during this year 
was most unfortunate. 

much liked. He is commanding the familiar. He asked me what my 
regiment. We are getting veryanx- name was, and I told him. He told 
ious about the three companies in me he was one of General Kosecrans' 
Minnesota, because the authorities spies. His name is Conger. He used 
threaten to unite us with some other to work on Bromley's farm, near St. 
regiment, on account of our small Paul. He has been in the Southern 
size ; but if they arrive I do not think jails for a long time, and is now suf- 
there is any danger of our being fering from a severe wound. He 
united with some other United States was present when Pierre Dufort and 
militia. We always had to do the Baptiste Charette were hung for try- 
duty of a full regiment. ing to escape to their homes in 

"I was talking with a secesh the Minnesota." 
other day whose face appeared to be 



THIRD REGIMENT SURRENDER. 7 15 

On the morning of the thirteenth of July, neir Mur- 
freesboro', Kentucky, the rebels attacked the 7th Michi- 
gan, and after their commanding officer was wounded, and 
they lost nearly half their number, they surrendered. 
The 3d Minnesota, which was a little more than a mile 
off, and a battery of four guns, as soon as they heard of 
the attack, marched up the turnpike and took position 
in an open field, and in a little while fell back a half- 
mile. The colonel called a council of officers to decide 
whether they should fight, and the first vote was to 
fight; a subsequent vote being taken, by ballot, was in 
favour of surrender. Lieutenant-Colonel C. W. Griggs, 
Captains Andrews and Hoyt, voted on both occasions 
to fight. In September the regiment returned to the 
State humiliated by the lack of judgment upon the 
part of their colonel, and was assigned to duty in the 
Indian country. 



716 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 



More than a hundred years ago, the missionary 
John Brainerd wrote from the valley of the Delaware 
to Wheelock, President of the Indian Academy at Han- 
over, New Hampshire : " I am greatly distressed often. 
There is too much truth in that common saying, 
6 Indians will be Indians.' " 

The past generations of white men have not been 
indifferent to the welfare of the American savage. 
One of the objects of English colonization was to 
" bring the infidels and savages living in those parts 
to human civility and a settled and quiet government." 
Our forefathers, at the outset, shrank from the cruel 
coercive policy of the Spaniards in South America, and 
in their own language 1 employed "fair and loving means 
suited to our English natures." 

The author of the " New Life of Virginia," printed in 
1612, says : 

" This is the work that we first intended and have 
published to the world, to be chief in our thoughts, to 
bring (hose infidel people from the worship of devils to the 
service of God. And this is the knot that you must untie, 
or cut asunder, before you can conquer those sundry 

1 Nova Britannia. London, 1609. 



EARLY PEACE POLICY. 717 

impediments that will surely hinder all other proceed- 
ings, if this be not first preferred. 

" Take their children and train them up with gentle- 
ness ; teach them our English tongue and the principles 
of religion ; win the elder sort by wisdom and discre- 
tion ; make them equal with your English in case of 
wealth, protection, and habitation, doing justice on such as 
shall do them wrong. Weapons of war are needful, I 
grant, but for defence only, and not in this case. If 
you seek to gain this victory upon them by stratagems 
of war, you shall utterly lose it and never come near it, 
but shall make their names odious to all their posterity. 
Instead of iron and steel, you must have patience and 
humanity to manage their crooked nature to your form 
of civility, for as our proverb is, ' Look ; how you win 
them so you must wear them.' If by way of peace 
and gentleness, then shall you always range them in 
Jove to your wards, and in peace with your English 
people ; and by proceeding in that way shall open the 
springs of earthly benefits to them both, and of safety 
to yourselves." 

Before the passengers of the May Flower landed at 
Plymouth Rock, collections were taken in the churches 
of England, for training the children of savages of 
Virginia in virtue and civility. Among the enactments 
of the first legislative assembly in America, convened at 
Jamestown, on July thirty, 1619, was the following : 

"Be it enacted by this present Assembly, That for lay- 
ing a surer foundation for the conversion of the Indians 
to the Christian religion, each town, city, borough, and 
particular plantation do obtain unto themselves by just 
means a certain number of the natives' children to be 
educated by them in true religion and a civil course of 



718 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

life; of which children the most towardly boys in wit 
and graces of nature to be brought up by them in the 
first elements of literature, so as to be fitted for the 
college intended for them, that from thence they may 
be sent to that work of conversion." 

A wealthy person in London, as early as 1620, gave 
a large sum of money to teach Indian youth to read, 
and " then to be brought up in some lawful trade, with 
all humanity and gentleness, until the age of twenty- 
one years ;" and George Thorpe, a person of piety, cul- 
ture, and social position, came to Virginia to carry out 
this beneficent idea ; but in less than a year after his 
arrival this good man was scalped by the very chief 
for whom he had caused a white man's house to be 
built, and all the plantations on the upper James River 
were made desolate by the torch and arrows of the 
warriors under his influence. The slaughter had been 
universal, if God had not put it into the heart of an. 
Indian converted to Christianity to give the alarm. The 
authorities, in a letter sent to London, said : " Though 
three hundred and more of ours died by many of these 
pagan infidels, yet thousands were saved by means of 
one of these alone who was made a Christian." 

While white men engaged in trade with the Indians 
at that early period were sometimes unjust and violent 
toward the natives, yet the majority of the settlers were 
friendly, and the Indians had no fear as they passed 
from plantation to plantation. Their priests or sacred 
men had, however, viewed the advent of the European 
to their shores with sadness. They foresaw that their 
occupation would be gone should industry and intel- 
ligence prevail among their tribes, and it was their de- 
light to foment suspicions, and stir up ill-feeling toward 



INDIAN SACRED MEN. 



719 



the planters. Powhatan, persuaded by his priests, 
slaughtered the first plantation of white men at Koan- 
oke, in North Carolina, 1 and his successor, under the 
same stimulus, fearing that he would lose his power 
over the tribe if his people became landholders and 
fellow-citizens with the new-comers, resolved to exter- 
minate the pale-faces from the valley of the James 
River. 

The divines and public men of the London Company 
were so shocked and surprised when the intelligence of 
the Indian atrocities was received, that they abandoned 
their mild policy, and felt that it was a Christian duty 
to cast out the heathen, and wrote- to the colonial 
authorities to urge a war of extermination. 2 A letter- 



1 Strachey, who was secretary of 
Lord Delaware, in " History of Trav- 



aile into Virgin] 



His Ma- 



jesty hath been acquainted that the 
men, women, and children of the first 
plantation at Koanoak were, by com- 
mandment of Powhatan , he pursuaded 
thereto by his priests, miserably 
slaughtered without any offence given 
by the first planted, who 20 and odd 
years had peaceably lived intermix t 
with those savages, and were out of 
his territory." — HakLuyt Publications, 
vol. vi. p. 85. 

2 On August 1, 1622, the London 
Company wrote : 

" As for the actors thereof, we can- 
not but with much griefe proceed to 
the condemnation of their bodies, 
the saving of whose soules we have 
so zealously affected ; but since the 
inocent blood of so many Christians 
doth in justice crie out for revenge, 
and the future securitie in wisdom 
require, we must advise you to roote 



out from being any longer a people 
so cursed, a nation ungratefull to all 
benefitts, and uncapable of all good- 
nesse ; at least to the removall of them 
so farr from you as you may not only 
be out of danger, but out of feare of 
them, of whose faith and good mean- 
ing you can never be secure. Where- 
fore, as they have merited, let them 
have a perpetual warre without peace 
or truce ; and, although they have 
desired it, without mercie, too. Yet, 
remembering who we are, rather than 
what they have been, we cannot but 
advise not only the sparing but the 
preservation of the younger people 
of both sexes, whose bodies may by 
labor and service become profitable, 
and their minds not overgrowne with 
evill customes, be reduced to civilitie, 
and afterwards toChristianitie." For 
the entire letter see Neill's " Virginia 
Company of London," pp. 330, 331. 
Published by Joel Munsell, Albany^ 
1869. 



720 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

writer, also of that day, used the following strong 
language : 

" We have sent boys among them to learn their lan- 
guage, but they returned worse than they went; but I 
am no statesman, nor love to meddle with anything 
but my books, but I can find no probability by this 
course to draw them to goodness ; but I am persuaded 
if Mars and Minerva go hand in hand, they will effect 
more good in an hour, than those verbal Mercurians 
in their lives, and till their priest and ancients have 
their throats cut there is no hope to bring them to 
conversion." 1 

Two hundred and forty years after the first great 
massacre in the valley of the James River, another 
occurred in the valley of the Minnesota just as unex- 
pected, accompanied by barbarities as revolting, and 
which would have been more extensive had it not 
been for the influence of a converted Indian, Paul 
Mnzakutainani, a member of the Presbyterian Mission 
Church. 2 

1 Smith's General History. of August, 1862, were dark weeks * * 

2 At the time of the outbreak there White men said the Dakota mission 

was a small Presbyterian church was a failure, that if our teachings had 

composed of Indians, at the Lower been right they would have prevented 

Agency, and also churches of the such an outbreak. But the vindication 

same denomination at Payutazee and was coming. Even now, John Other 

Hazlewood. At the latter station Day, a member of Dr. Williamson's 

was also an Indian boarding-school, church, helped away sixty-two per- 

The aggregate number of members sons from the agency at Yellow 

of the Presbyterian churches before Medicine. And while the troops 

the outbreak was only sixty-five, but under General Sibley were making 

since the removal of the Indians to preparations to advance, Simon Ana- 

the Missouri the Presbyterian mis- wanymane came into our lines with 

sionaries have been greatly blessed, a white woman and three children 

and there are now eight hundred who had been taken captive by the 

Dahkotahs belonging to their hostile Sioux. Simon was an elder in 

churches. Rev. S. R. Riggs says : the Hazlewood church. A few days 

; ' r lhe weeks that followed the 18th after this, Lorenzo Lawrence, a mem- 



CAUSES OF OUTBREAK. 



721 



There have been many theories advanced to account 
for the Sioux outbreak of 1S62, but they are for the 
most part superficial and erroneous. Little Crow, in 
his written communications to Colonel Sibley, explain- 
ing the causes which had provoked hostilities on the 
part of the Indians, makes no allusion to the treaties, 
but stated that his people had been driven to acts of 
violence by the suffering brought upon them by the 

ber of the same church, brought down 40. Cincinnati : Kendall and Henry, 
Mrs. De Camp and her children." for the A. B. C. F. AT. 1839. 

The following list of works pre- Extracts from Genesis and the 
pared by the Presbyterian mission- Psalms: with the Third Chapter of 
aries among the Dahkotahs, until the Proverbs, and the Third Chapter of 
year 1869, is taken from vol. iii., part Daniel, in the Dakota Language. 
1, of Minnesota Historical Society Translated from the French Bible 
Collections, and shows their active as published by the American Bible 

Society, by Joseph Kenville, Sr. 
Compared with other translations, 
and prepared for the press by Thomas 
S. Williamson, M.D., Missionary. 
Cincinnati: Kendall and Henry, for 
the A. B. C. F. M. 18mo : pp. 72. 
1839. 

Wotaxix Waxte Mark us Owa 
KIN. The Gospel according to Mark, 
in the Language of the Dakotas. 
Translated from the French by Joseph 
Renville, Sr. : written out and pre- 
pared for the press by Dr. Thomas 
S. Williamson, Missionary. Cincin- 
nati : Kendall and Henry, for the A. 
B. C. F. M. ISmo : pp. 96. 1839. 

Extracts from the Gospels of 
Matthew, Luke and John, from the 
Acts of the Apostles, and from the 
First Epistle of John, in the Lan- 
guage of the Dakota or Sioux Indians. 
Translated from the French as pub- 
lished by the American Bible Society, 
by Joseph Renville, Sr. Written 
and prepared for the press by Thomas 
S. Williamson, M. D.. Missionary. 



interest for the welfare of the Indians : 

DAHKOTAH BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Siorx Spelling Book, designed 
for the use of native learners. By 
R'-v. J. D. Stevens, Missionary. 
12mo : pp. 22. Boston : Crocker and 
B:-'-wster, for the A. B. C. F. M. 
18-V, 

TA'icoxi Owihaxke Wanin 
Taxix kix. 12mo:pp. 23. Boston: 
Crocker and Brewster, for the A. B. 
C. F. M. 1837. 

- little tract contains Dr. Watts' Second 
Cateuhisin fur Children, translated into the 
Dalikotah Language by .Ti.geph Renville, Sr., 
anu Dr. T. S. Williamson.] 

Thk Dakota First Reading 

Book. By Gideon H. Pond and 

•n R. Riggs. 18mo : pp. 50. 

Cincinnati, Ohio: Kendall and Henry, 

for the A. B. C. F. M. 1839. 

Joseph Otakapi kin. The Story 
of Joseph and his Brethren, trans- 
lated from Genesis by Revs. Gideon 
H. and Samuel W. Pond. 18mo : pp. 

46 



T22 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



delay in the payment of their annuities, and by the 
bad treatment they had received from their traders. 
In fact, nothing has transpired to justify the con- 
clusion that when the bands first assembled at the 
agency, there was anything more than the usual 
chronic discontent among them, superinduced by the 
failure of the government, or its agents, faithfully to 
carry out the stipulations of the different treaties. 

12mo : pp. 



Cincinnati: Kendall and Henry. 
18mo:pp. 48. 1839. 

Wowapi Mitawa: Tamakoce 
kaga. My Own Book. Prepared 
from Rev. T. H. Gallaudet's " Mo- 



American Tract Society. 
12. 1842. 

Wicoicage Wowapi qa Odowan 
Wakan, etc. The Book of Genesis, 
a Part of the Psalms, and the Gospels 



ther's Primer," and "Child's Picture of Luke and John. Cincinnati, Ohio: 



Defining and Reading Book," in the 
Dakota Language. By S. R. Riggs, 
A. M., Missionary of the A. B. C. 
F. M. Boston: Crocker and Brewster. 
Square 12mo : pp. 64. 1842. 

Wowapi Inonpa. The Second 
Dakota Reading Book. Consisting 
of Bible Stories from the Old Testa- 
ment. By Rev. S. W. Pond. Boston: 
Crocker and Brewster, for the A. B. 
C. F. M. 18mo : pp. 54. 1842. 

Dakota Dowanpi kin. Dakota 
Hymns. Boston : Crocker and Brew- 
ster, for the A. B. C. F. M. 18mo : 
pp. 97. 1842. 

[These Hymns -were composed in the Dakota 
Language by Mr. Joseph Renville and sons 
and the Missionaries of the American Board.— 
S. R. R.] 

WOAHOPE WlKCEMNA KIN. 

(Sheet.) The Ten Commandments 
and the Lord's Prayer, in the Da- 
kota Language. Boston. 1842. 
Eliza Marpi-cokawin, Raraton- 



Kendall and Barnard, for the A. B. 
C. F. M. 12mo : pp. 295. 1842. 

[These translations were made partly from 
the original Hebrew and Greek, and partly 
from the French, by Dr. T. S. Williamson, Rev 
G. H. Pond, S. R. Riggs, and Joseph Renville, 
Sr.-S. R. R.] 

Jesus Ohnihdewicaye cin Ara- 
nyanpi qon ; qa Palos Wowapi kage 
ciqon ; nakun, Jan Woyake ciqon 
dena cepi. Tamakoce okaga. The 
Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles 
of Paul; with the Revelation of 
John; in the Dakota Language. 
Translated from the Greek, by 
Stephen R. Riggs, A. M. Published 
by the American Bible Society. 
Cincinnati : Kendall and Barnard. 
12mo : pp. 228. 1843. 

Dakota Wiwangapi Wowapi. 
Catechism in the Dakota or Sioux 
Language. By Rev. S. W. Pond, 
Missionary of the A. B.C. F. M. New 
Haven, Conn. Printed by Hitchcock 



wan Oyato en Wapiye sa: qa Sara and Stafford. 12mo : pp. 12. 1844. 

Warpanica qon. A Narrative of Dakota Tawoonspe. Wowapi I. 

Pious Indian Women. Prepared in Tamakoce kaga. Dakota Lessons. 

Dakota by Mrs. M. A. C. Riggs. Book I. By S. R. Riggs, A. M., 

Boston : Crocke and Brewster, for che Missionary of A. B. C. F. M. Louis- 



CAUSES OF DISSATISFACTION. 



723 



During the trial of the prisoners before the military 
commission hereinafter mentioned, every effort was made 
to elicit evidence bearing upon the outbreak and the 
motives which actuated the leaders in inaugurating the 
bloody work. The only inference that can be drawn 
from all of these sources of information is, that the 
movement was not deliberate and predetermined, but 
was the result of various concurrent causes, to wit : 

ville, Ky. : Morton and Griswold. in this smaller form for the use of 



Square 12mo : pp. 48. 1850. 

Dakota Tatvoonspe. AVowapi 
II. Dakota Lessons. Book II. By 
S. R. Riggs, Missionary, etc. Louis- 
ville, Ky. : Morton and Griswold. 
Square 12mo : pp. 48. 1850. 

Dakota Tawaxitku Kin. The 
Dakota Friend, a small monthly 
paper in Dakota and English, pub- 
lished at St. Paul by the Dakota 
Mission. Rev. G-. H. Pond, Editor. 
1850-52. 

[In all 20 numbers were published. The first 
12 (Vol. I.) were in a small three-column size. 
The second volume was enlarged to four col- 
umns. The first number was issued in No- 
vember, 1S50. It is asserted that there is but one 
other instance known of a periodical being pub- 
lished in an American aboriginal tongue, viz., 
among the Cherokees. — W.] 

Grammar and Dictionary of the 
Dakota Language, collected by the 
members of the Dakota Mission. By 
Rev. S. R. Riggs, A. M., Missionary 
of A. B. C. F. M. Under the pa- 
tronage of the Historical Society of 
Minnesota. Printed by R. Craig- 
head, 53 Vesey Street, New York, 
1852 ; for the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion, Washington City. 4to : pp. 
34 ; 338. 

An English and Dakota Vo- 
cabulary. By Mrs. M. A. C. Riggs. 
8vo:pp. 120. 1852. [This material 
is included in the larger work, put 



Dakota schools.] 

[Having lived twenty-eight years in Minne- 
sota, twenty-five of which were among the Da- 
kotas, Mrs. Riggs died in Beloit, Wisconsin, 
March twenty-second, 1869.] 

Dakota Odowan. Hymns in the 
Dakota Language, with Tunes. Ed- 
ited by S. R. Riggs, Missionary of 
A. B. C. F. M. Published by the 
American Tract Society, New York. 
1855. 12mo: pp. 127. 

The Pilgrim's Progress, by John 
Bunyan ; in the Dakota Language ; 
translated by Stephen R. Riggs, 
A. M., Missionary of A. B. C. F. M. 
Published by the American Tract 
Society, 150 Nassau Street, New 
York. 18mo:pp. 264. 1857. 

[A second edition has been printed. From 
this on, our books have been nearly all stereo- 
typed.— S. R. R.] 

The Constitution of Minne- 
sota, in the Dakota Language ; 
translated by Stephen R. Riggs, 
A. M. By order of the Hazlewood 
Republic. Boston: Press of T. R. 
Marvin & Son, 42 Congress Street. 
12mo : pp. 36. 1858. 

Wowapi Nitawa. Your Own 
Book. A Dakota Primer for Schools. 
By S. R. Riggs. Square 12mo: pp. 
32. Minneapolis. 1863. 

Dakota Odowan. Hymns in 
the Dakota Language. Edited by 



124. 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



long delay in the payment of the annuities after the 
Indians were assembled, and an insufficient supply of 
food in the interim ; dissatisfaction with the traders ; 
alleged encroachment of settlers upon the Indian reser- 
vation; ill-feeling of the pagan Indians against the 
missionaries and their converts ; and predictions of the 



Stephen R. Riggs and John P. Wil- 
liamson, Missionaries of the A. B. C. 
F. M. Published by the American 

Tract Society, New York. 1863. 
18mo : pp. 162. 

[This book is electrotyped. Four editions 
have been printed. To the last, published in 
1869. twenty pages of new matter were added. 
The book now has pp. 182, and contains 170 
Hymns and Chants. The initials of the authors 
are appended — "Mr. R.," "J. E.," " A. It." 
" T. S. W.," " G. H. P.," " S. W. P.," " J. P. W.," 
"A. W. H.," "L. L.," and "A. D. F."] 

Dakota Wiwicawangapi kin. 
Dakota Catechism. Prepared from 
the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. 
By S. R. Riggs, Missionary of A. B. 
C. F. M. Published by the Ameri- 
can Tract Society, ISTew York. 24mo : 
pp. 36. 1864. 

[Two editions have been printed.] 

Woonspe Itakihna. Ehakeun 
okaga. "Precept upon Precept," 
translated into the Dakota Language 
by John B. Renville. Prepared for 
the press by S. R. Riggs. Published 
by the American Tract Society, 
Boston. 18mo: pp.228. 1864. 

Oowa Wowapi. The Book of 
Letters ; an illustrated school book. 
By John P. Williamson, Missionary 
of A. B. C. F. M. Printed for the 
mission by the American Tract So- 
cioty, New York. 12mo: pp. 84. 
1865 

Dakota Wowapi Wakan kin. 
The New Testament in the Dakota 



Language ; translated from the origi- 
nal Greek, by Stephen R. Riggs, 
A. M., Missionary of the A. B. C. 
P. M. New York: American Bible 
Society. 16mo : pp. 408. 1865. 

Wicoicage Wowapi, Mowis 
owa : qa Wicoie Wakan kin, Solo- 
mon kaga. Pejihuta Wicashta Da- 
kota iapi en kaga. The Books of 
Genesis and Proverbs in the Dakota 
Language ; translated from the origi- 
nal Hebrew by Thomas S. William- 
son, A. M., M. D. New York: 
American Bible Society. 1865. 16mo: 
p. 115. 

Dakota ABC Book. By S. R. 
Riggs. Chicago : Dean and Otta- 
wary. Square 12mo : pp. 40. 1866. 

Dakota A. B. C. Wowapi kin. 
The Dakota Primer. By S. R 
Riggs, Missionary of A. B. C. F. M. 
New York : American Tract Society. 
Square 12mo : pp. 64. 1868. 

The Book of Psalms. Trans- 
lated from the Hebrew into the 
Dakota language, by S. R. Riggs, 
Missionary of the A. B. C. F. M. 
New York: American Bible Society. 
16mo : pp. 133. 1869. 

The Books of Exodus and Le- 
viticus. Translated from the He- 
brew into the Dakota language, by 
T. S. Williamson, M.D., Missionary 
of A. B. C. F. M. New York: 
American Bible Society. 16mo : 
pp. 65 and 47. 1869. 



BEGINNING OF SLAUGHTER. 725 

medicine-men that the Sioux would defeat the Ameri- 
cans in battle, and then reoccupy the whole country 
after clearing it of the whites. Add to these the facts, 
well known to the Indians, that thousands of young 
and able-bodied men had been despatched to aid in sup- 
pressing the rebellion, and that but a meagre force re- 
mained to garrison Forts Kidgely and Abercrombie, 
the only military posts in proximity to their country, 
and it will be perceived that, to savages who held fast 
to their traditional attachment to the British crown, 
and were therefore not friendly to the Americans, the 
temptation to regain their lost possessions must have 
been strong. It was fresh in their minds, also, 
and a frequent subject of comment on their part, that 
the government had taken no steps to punish Ink-pah- 
du-tah and his small band, who had committed so many 
murders and other outrages upon citizens of the 
United States, in 1856, at Spirit Lake. 1 

It is, however, by no means certain that all of these 
considerations combined would have resulted in open 
hostilities, but for an occurrence which proved to be 
the application of the torch to the magazine. Five or 
six young warriors, wearied of the inaction of a stationary 
camp life, made an excursion along the outer line of 
the Big Woods in a northern direction, with the 
avowed intention of securing the scalp of a Chippewa, 
if practicable. Being unsuccessful in their search, they 
retraced their steps to Acton, a small settlement in 
Meeker County, on the seventeenth of August, 1862, 
and through some means they obtained whiskey, and 
drank freely. They made a demand for more liquor 
from a man named Jones, and were refused, where- 

] See chapter xxyiii. pp. 621-622. 



726 . HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

upon the infuriated savages fired upon and killed not 
only him but two other men, Webster and Baker by 
name, and an elderly lady and a young girl. Terrified 
at their own violence, and fearful of the punishment 
due to their crimes, these wretches made their way 
back to the camp at the Lower Agency, confessed their 
guilt to their friends, and implored protection from the 
vengeance of the outraged laws. They all belonged to 
influential and powerful families, and when the whole 
affair had been discussed in solemn conclave in the 
" Soldiers' Lodge," it was determined that the bands 
should make common cause with the criminals, and 
the following morning was fixed upon for the extermi- 
nation of the unsuspecting whites at the agencies, and 
of all the white settlers within reach. How secretly 
and how faithfully the orders of the " soldiers" were 
executed, remains briefly to be told. 

About six o'clock a.m. on the eighteenth day of August, 
1862, alarge number of Sioux warriors, armed and in their 
war paint, assembled about the buildings at the Lower 
Agency. It had been rumored purposely in advance 
that a war-party was to take the field against the 
Chippewas, but no sooner had the Indians assumed 
their several positions, according to the programme, than 
an onslaught was made indiscriminately upon the 
whites, and with the exception of two or three men 
w^ho concealed themselves, and a few of the women 
and children who were kept as captives, no whites 
escaped destruction but George H. Spencer, a respect- 
able and intelligent young man, who, although twice 
.seriously wounded, was saved from instant death by 
the heroic intervention of his Indian comrade, named 
" Wak-ke-an-da-tah," or the " Ked Lightning." A number 



ESCAPE OF MISSIONARIES. 727 

of persons were also slaughtered at the Upper Agency, 
but through the agency of "Other Day," a Christian 
Indian, the missionaries, and others, including Rev. 
Messrs. Riggs and Williamson, and their families, — in 
all about sixty persons, — were saved, being conducted 
safely through the Indian country to the white settle- 
ments. Their escape was truly providential. The 
massacre of the people, the pillage of stores and dwell- 
ings, and the destruction of the buildings having been 
consummated, parties weie despatched to fall upon the 
settlers on farms and in villages along the entire fron- 
tier, extending nearly two hundred miles. The scenes 
of horror consequent upon the general onslaught can 
better be imagined than described. Fortunate, com- 
paratively speaking, was the lot of those who were 
doomed to instant death, and thus spared the agonies of 
lingering tortures, and the superadded anguish of wit- 
nessing outrages upon the persons of those nearest and 
dearest to them. The fiends of hell could not invent 
more fearful atrocities than were perpetrated by the 
savages upon their victims. The bullet, the tomahawk, 
and the scalping-knife spared neither age nor sex, the 
only prisoners taken being the young and comely women, 
to minister to the brutal lusts of their captors, and a 
few children. In the short space of thirty-six hours, 
as nearly as could be computed, eight hundred whites 
were cruelly slain. Almost every dwelling along the 
extreme frontier was a charnel-house, containing the 
dying and the dead. In many cases the torch was 
applied, and maimed and crippled sufferers, unable to 
escape, were consumed with their habitations. The 
alarm was communicated by refugees to the adjacent 
settlements, and soon the roads leading to St. Paul were 



728 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

crowded by thousands of men, women, and children, 
in the wild confusion of a sudden flight. Domestic 
animals, including hundreds and even thousands of 
cattle, were abandoned, and only those taken which could 
expedite the movements of the terror-stricken settlers. 

The savages, after accomplishing their mission of death, 
assembled in force, and attempted to take Fort Ridgely 
by a coup de main. In this they were foiled by the 
vigilance and determination of the garrison, aided by 
volunteers who had escaped from the surrounding 
settlements. The attack was continued at intervals for 
several days, but without success. The town of New 
Ulm was also assailed by a strong force of the savages, 
but was gallantly defended by volunteers from the 
neighbouring counties under the command of Colonel C. 
H. Flandrau. Captain Dodd, an old and respectable 
citizen of St. Peter, was among the killed at this point. 
Fort Abercrombie, on the Red River, also suffered a long 
and tedious siege by the bands of Sioux from Laequi 
Parle, until relieved by a force despatched by Governor 
Ramsey, from St. Paul. 

The first advices of the outbreak reached St. Paul 
on the day succeeding the massacre at the Lower 
Agency. Instant preparations were made by Governor 
Ramsey to arrest the progress of the savages. At his 
personal solicitation, Henry H. Sibley, a resident of 
Mendota, whose long and intimate acquaintance with 
Indian character and habits was supposed to render 
him peculiarly fitted for the position, consented to take 
charge of military operations. He was accordingly 
commissioned by the Governor, colonel commanding, 
and upon him devolved the conduct of the campaign 
in person. 



COLONEL SIBLEY ADVANCES. 729 

Unfortunately, the State of Minnesota was lament- 
ably deficient in the means and appliances requisite to 
carry on successfully a war of the formidable character 
which this threatened to assume. The Sioux allied 
bands could bring into the field from eight hundred to 
a thousand warriors, and they might be indefinitely re- 
inforced by the powerful divisions of the prairie Sioux. 
Those actually engaged in hostilities were good marks- 
men, splendidly armed, and abundantly supplied with 
ammunition. They had been victorious in several en- 
counters with detachments of troops, and had over- 
whelming confidence in their own skill. On the other 
hand, the State had already despatched five thousand, 
more or less, of her choicest young men to the South, 
her arsenal was stripped of all the arms that were 
effective, and there was little ammunition on hand, 
and no rations. There was no government transporta- 
tion to be had, and the prospect was not by any means 
favourable. Governor Ramsev, notwithstanding, acted 
with promptness and vigour. He telegraphed for arms 
and ammunition to the War Department, and to the 
governors of the adjoining States. He authorized also 
the appropriation for the public use of the teams be- 
longing to individual citizens, and adopted such other 
measures as the emergency demanded. 

There were at Fort Snelling. happily, the nuclei of 
regiments that had been called into service. Colonel 
Sibley left Fort Snelling with four hundred men of the 
6th Regiment Minnesota Volunteers, early on the 
morning of August twentieth. Upon an inspection of 
the arms and cartridges furnished, it was found that the 
former comprised worthless Austrian rifles, and the 
ammunition w r as for guns of a different and larger cali- 



•730 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

bre. The command was detained several days at St, 
Peter, engaged in swedging the balls so as to fit the 
arms, and in preparing canister-shot for the six-pounders. 
Meantime arms of a better quality were received, re- 
inforcements of troops arrived, and the column took up 
the line of march for Fort Ridgley, which was reached 
without interruption, and the troops went into camp 
a short distance from the post, to await the reception 
of rations and to make the final preparations for an 
advance upon thp hostile Indians, who had drawn in 
their detached parties, and were concentrating for a 
decisive battle. 

Scouts were despatched to ascertain the location of 
the main Indian camp, and upon their return they re- 
ported no Indians below Yellow Medicine River. A 
burial-party of twenty men, under the escort of one 
company of infantry and the available mounted force, 
in all about two hundred men, under the command of 
Major J. R. Brown, was detailed to proceed and inter 
the remains of the murdered at the Lower Agency and 
at other points in the vicinity. This duty was per- 
formed, fifty-four bodies buried, and the detachment 
was en route to the settlements on Beaver River, and 
had encamped for the night near Birch Coolie, a long 
and wooded ravine debouching into the Minnesota 
River, when, about dawn the following morning, the 
camp was attacked by a large force of Indians, twenty- 
five men killed or mortally wounded, and nearly all 
the horses, ninety in number, shot down. Providen- 
tially, the volleys of musketry were heard at the main 
.camp, although eighteen miles distant, and Colonei 
Sibley marched to the relief of the beleagured de- 
tachment, drove off the Indians, buried the dead, 



BATTLE OF WOOD LAKE. 731 

and the weary column then retraced its steps to the 
camp. 

The period spent in awaiting necessary supplies of 
provisions was made useful in drilling the men and 
bringing them under discipline. So soon as ten days' 
rations had been accumulated, Colonel Sibley marched 
in search of the savages, and on the twentv-third of 
September, 1862, w r as fought the severe and decisive 
battle of Wood Lake. The action was commenced by 
the Indians, and was bravely contested by them for 
more than two hours, when they gave way at all points, 
and sent in a flag of truce, asking permission to remove 
their dead and wounded, which was refused. A message 
was sent back to Little Crow, the leader of the hostile 
Indians, to the effect that if any of the white prisoners 
held by him received injury at the hands of the sav- 
ages, no mercy w r ould be shown to the latter, but they 
would be pursued and destroyed without regard to age 
or sex. 

The success at Wood Lake w r as not achieved without 
serious loss. Major Welch, of the 3d Minnesota Vol- 
unteers, commanding, was severely wounded in the leg ; 
Captain Wilson, of the 6th Regiment, badly contused 
in the breast by a spent ball ; and nearly forty non- 
commissioned officers and privates w r ere killed or 
wounded. The loss of the enemy was much greater, 
a half-breed prisoner stating it at thirty killed and a 
larger number wounded. Lieutenant-Colonel Marshall 
and Major Bradley, of the 7th Regiment, distinguished 
themselves, the former leading a charge of five com- 
panies of his own and two companies of the 6th Regi- 
ment, which cleared a ravine of the enemy, w r here 
thev had obtained shelter. Lieutenant-Colonel Averill 



732 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. i 

and Major McLaren, of the 6th Regiment, also per- 
formed signal service, as did all the officers and men of 
both regiments. The 3d Regiment, composed of fractions 
of six companies, fought gallantly, having for a time, 
in conjunction with the Renville Rangers, borne the 
brunt of the fight, and their loss was great in propor- 
tion. 

One of the main objects of the campaign, the deliver- 
ance of the white captives, was yet to be accomplished, 
and required the exercise of much judgment and cau- 
tion. There was good reason to fear that, in the ex- 
asperation of defeat, they might fall victims to the 
savages. Colonel Sibley, therefore, delayed his march 
towards the great Indian camp until the second day 
after the battle, to allow time to the friendly element 
to strengthen itself, and to avoid driving the hostile 
Indians into desperate measures against their prisoners. 
On the twenty-fifth of September, the column, with 
drums beating and colors flying, filed past the Indian 
encampment, and formed the camp within a few hun- 
dred yards of it. Colonel Sibley, with his staff and 
field officers, then proceeded to the lodges of the In- 
dians, and directed that all the captives should be de- 
livered up to him, which was forthwith done. A sight 
was then presented which sufficed to suffuse the eyes 
of strong men with tears. Young and beautiful women, 
who had for weeks endured the extremity of outrage 
from their brutal captors, followed by a crowd of chil- 
dren of all ages, came forth from the lodges, hardly 
realizing that the day of their deliverance had arrived. 
Convulsive sobbings were heard on every side, and the 
poor creatures clung to the men who had come to their 
relief, as if they feared some savage would drag them 



WHITE CAPTIVES RELEASED. 733 

away. They were all escorted tenderly to the tents 
prepared for their reception, and made as comfortable 
as circumstances would admit. The number of pure 
whites thus released amounted to about one hundred 
and fifty, including one man only, Mr. Spencer. The 
latter expressed his gratitude to Colonel Sibley that 
he had not made a forced march upon the camp after 
the battle, stating emphatically that if such a course 
had been pursued, it was the determination of the hos- 
tile Indians to cut the throats of the captives, and then 
disperse in the prairies. There were delivered also 
nearly two hundred and fifty half-breeds, who had been 
held as prisoners. 

Two of the principal objects of the campaign, the 
defeat of the savage and the release of the captives, 
having now been consummated, there remained but to 
punish the guilty. Many of these, with Little Crow, 
had made their escape and could not be overtaken, but 
some of the small camps of refugees were surrounded 
and their inmates brought back. The locality where 
these events transpired was appropriately called Camp 
Release, and the name should be perpetuated. 

At the proper time, the Indian camp was surrounded 
by a cordon of troops, and four hundred of the warriors 
were arrested, chained together in pairs, and placed in 
an enclosure of logs made by the troops, under strong 
guard. Others who were known to be innocent were 
not interfered with. Colonel Sibley constituted a mili- 
tary commission, with Colonel Crooks, commanding 6th 
Regiment, as president, for the trial of the prisoners. 
A fair and impartial hearing was accorded to each, and 
the result was, the finding of three hundred and three 
guilty of participation in the murder of the whites, and 



73 t HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the sentence of death by hanging was passed upon 
them. Others were convicted of robbery and pillage 
and condemned to various terms of imprisonment, and 
a few were acquitted. The witnesses were composed 
of the released captives, including mixed bloods, and 
of Christian Indians who had refused to join Little 
Crow in the war. A full record was kept of each case 
that was tried. 

The preparations for the execution of the guilty In- 
dians were brought to a summary close, by an order 
from President Lincoln prohibiting the hanging of any 
of the convicted men without his previous sanction. 
The people of the State were highly indignant at this 
suspension, and an energetic protest was made by their 
Senators and Representatives in Washington. Finally, 
after much delay, Colonel Sibley was directed to carry 
out the sentence of the commission in certain cases 
specified, and on December twenty-sixth, 1862, thirty- 
eight of the criminals were executed accordingly at 
Mankato, on the same scaffold, under the direction of 
Colonel Miller, commanding that post. The remainder 
of the condemned were sent to Davenport, Iowa, early 
in the spring, where they were kept in confinement for 
more than a year, a large number dying of disease in 
the mean time. Those that remained were eventually 
despatched to a reservation on the Upper Missouri, 
where the large number of prisoners taken by Colonel 
Sibley, principally women and children, had already 
been placed. 

The President testified his approbation of the conduct 
of Colonel Sibley by conferring upon him, unasked, the 
commission of brigadier-general of volunteers, and the 
appointment was subsequently confirmed by the Senate. 



INDIAN CAMPAIGN ENDED. 



.oO 



Thus happily terminated the Indian campaign of 
IS 62. entered upon without due preparation, against 
an enemy formidable in numbers, completely armed and 
equipped, and withal confident of their own powers and 
strength. It was a critical period in the history of the 
State, for it was then suspected, and has since been con- 
firmed, that if the column of troops under Colonel 
Sibley had met with a reverse, there would have 
been a rising of the Chippewas and Winnebagoes against 
the whites, and many of the counties west of the Mis- 
sissippi would have been entirely depopulated. Indeed, 
in a speech to his warriors the night previous to the 
battle of Wood Lake, Little Crow stated the pro- 
gramme to be, first, the defeat and destruction of the 
old men and boys composing, as he said, the command 
under Colonel Sibley, and second, the immediate de- 
scent thereafter of himself and his people to St. Paul, 
there to dispose summarily of the whites, and then 
establish themselves comfortably in winter quarters. 
That the people of Minnesota succeeded, without ex- 
traneous aid, in speedily ending an Indian war of such 
threatening and formidable proportions, while they 
continued to bear their full share of the burdens im- 
posed on the Northern States in the suppression of the 
great rebellion, constitutes an epoch in their history of 
which they may be justly proud. 

It was deemed requisite by the military authorities 
at Washington, and by Major-General Pope, command- 
ing the Department of the Northwest, that a second 
campaign should be entered upon against the refugees 
who had been concerned in the massacres, and had tied 
to the upper prairies, where they had been hospitably 
received and harbored by the powerful bands of Sioux 



736 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

in that remote region. Accordingly, General Sully, 
commanding the District of the Upper Missouri, and 
General Sibley, commanding the District of Minnesota, 
were summoned to the head-quarters of the depart- 
ment at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to confer with General 
Pope. It was finally decided that a large force under 
the district commanders mentioned should march as 
early in the summer of 1863 as practicable, from Sioux 
City on the Missouri, and from a designated point on 
the Minnesota River respectively, the objective-point 
of the two columns being Devil's Lake, where it was 
supposed the main body of Indians would be encoun- 
tered. The force under General Sully was to be com- 
posed entirely of cavalry, and that under General Sib- 
ley of three regiments of infantry, one regiment of 
cavalry, and two sections of light artillery. The Min- 
nesota column reached the point of rendezvous after a 
most weary and indeed distressing march, the summer 
being exceedingly warm, and the prairies parched with 
the excessive drought. Learning from the Red River 
half-breeds that the large Indian camps were to be 
found on the Missouri coteau, in the direction from 
which General Sully was to be expected, General Sib- 
ley left the sore-footed and weary of his men and 
animals in an entrenched camp on the Upper Sheyenne 
River, and marched rapidly towards the Missouri River. 
He succeeded in falling in with the camp in which 
many of the refugees were to be found, and which con- 
tained several hundred warriors, attacked and defeated 
them with considerable loss, and followed them as they 
retreated upon other and stronger camps, the tenants of 
which were driven back in confusion successively, until 
the Missouri River was interposed as a barrier to the 



LITTLE CROW KILLLED. 737 

advance of the pursuing column. The command of 
General Sully, delayed by unexpected obstacles, was 
not fallen in with, and the Minnesota troops having 
accomplished more than was allotted to them in the 
co-operative movement, and secured their own frontier 
from apprehensions of further serious raids on the part 
of hostile Sioux, returned to their quarters in their own 
State. The year 1863 was also signalized by the death 
of Little Crow, who, with a small party of seventeen 
men, made a descent upon the frontier w r ith the object 
of stealing horses, and after committing a few murders 
and depredations, he was fatally shot by a man named 
Lamson, in the Big Woods, and his son, who was with 
him, was subsequently taken prisoner near Devil's 
Lake, by a detachment from General Sibley's column, 
condemned to death by military commission, but sub- 
sequently pardoned on account of his extreme youth. 1 

1 Among the first massacred by ice and guarded by Lieutenant Oliver 

the Indians was Philander Prescott, and a few soldiers. Toward the close 

one of the oldest citizens and traders of the year 1819, Mr. Prescott arrived 

of Minnesota. He was the son of a at the cantonment, then in command 

physician, and born on seventeenth of Colonel Leavenworth, and from 

September, 1801, at Phelpstown, On- that time until his murder he was 

tario County, New York. In the identified with the region now known 

winter of 1819 he visited a brother, a as Minnesota, 
clerk in a sutler's store at Detroit. The winter of 1824—5 Mr. P. 

With Mr. Devotion, the sutler, traded with the Indians near Fort 

ho proceeded to the Upper Mississippi, Snelling, living at Land's End, and 

stopped at Mud Hen Isle, the Isle purchased the Indian wife with 

Pelee, where the French, in 1695, whom he lived in his last years, 

hod erected an establishment about For three years after this he was an 

midway between Lake Pepin and the employee of the Columbia Fur Com- 

mouth of the St. Croix. At this point pany, and then he passed a short time 

Mr. Faribault then had a trading- in Louisiana; but in the spring of 

house. Xext they stopped at Olive 1828 he returned, and soon after this 

Grnve, now Hastings. Here he found the Indian agent Taliaferro era- 

a keel boat loaded with stores for the ployed him to open a farm for the 

troops at Minnesota, stopped by the Indians at Lake Calhoun. 

47 



738 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

SERVICES OF REGIMENTS IN THE SOUTH DURING THE YEAR 1863. 

On the first of March the 4th Regiment embarked 
at Memphis and entered the Yazoo Pass, and on the 
fifteenth of April returned to Milliken's Bend. A few- 
days after, Colonel Sanborn was temporarily placed in 
command of Quinby's Division. On the thirtieth of 
April the regiment was opposite Grand Gulf, and in a 
few days they entered Port Gibson, and here Colonel 
Sanborn resumed the command of a brigade ; and on 
the tenth of May the regiment, which was a part of 
his brigade, was present at the battle of Raymond, and 
on the fourteenth took part in the battle of Jackson. 

A newspaper correspondent says : " Captain L. B. 
Martin, of the 4th Minnesota, A. A. G. to Colonel San* 
born, seized the flag of the 59th Indiana Infantry, rode 
rapidly beyond the skirmishers (Company H of 4th 
Minnesota, Lieutenant George A. Clark), and raised it 
over the dome of the capitol. Lieutenant Donaldson 
of the 4th, also riding in advance, captured a flag made 
of silk ; on one side was inscribed ' Claiborne Rangers, f 
and on the other ' Our Eights.'" 

On the sixteenth the regiment was in the battle of 
Champion Hill, and took one hundred and eighteen pri- 
soners. Four days later it was in the rear of Vicksburg. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Tourtellotte reports as follows: 






AROCXD VICKSBURG. 739 

" On the morning of the twenty-second, by order of 
General Grant, an assault was made on Vicksburg. 
My regiment, with the 48th Iowa for reserve and sup- 
port, was ordered to charge upon one of the enemy's 
forts just in front as soon as I should see a charge 
made upon the fort next on my right." This order 
being modified, the report continues : " No sooner had 
we taken position than General Burbage withdrew his 
brigade from the action. Under the direct fire from 
the fort in front, under a heavy cross-fire from a fort 
on our right, the regiment pressed forward up to and 
even on the enemy's works. In this position, contend- 
ing for the possession of the rebel earthwork, the regi- 
ment remained for two hours, when it became dark, and 
I was ordered bv Colonel Sanborn to withdraw the 
regiment. Noticing a field-piece which had been lifted 
up the hill by main strength and which had appa- 
rently been used by General Burbage in attempting 
to batter down the walls of the fort, I sent Company 
C to withdraw the piece from the ground and down 
the hill. * * * * In this action the regiment suf- 
fered severely, losing some of its best officers and 
men." 

The 5th Regiment, attached to the 3d Division of 
loth Army Corps, reached Grand Gulf on the seventh 
of May. On the thirteenth they were at Raymond, 
and the next day in action near Jackson. On the 
twenty-second it was before Vicksburg and exposed to 
a galling fire, but lost only two men. 

The 1st Regiment left Falmouth, Virginia, and by 
hurried marches reached Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on 
the first of July. The next morning Hancock's Corps, 
to which it was attached, moved to a ridge, the right 



140 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



resting on Cemetery Hill, the left near Sugar Loaf 
Mountain. The line of battle was a semi-ellipse, and 
Gibbon's Division, to which the regiment was attached, 
occupied the centre of the curve nearest the enemy. 1 

Captain H. C. Coates, commanding the regiment 
after the battle, writes: 



1 As the battle at Gettysburg was 
one of the decisive battles of the Ke- 
bellion, we give the following ex- 
tracts from a most graphic account, 
writen by one signing himself " Ser- 
geant," which appeared in the St. 
Paul Pioneer, August 9, 1863. 

He says : " General Hancock rode 
up to Colonel Colville, and, pointing 
to the smoke-covered masses of the 
advancing foe, said, 'Colonel, ad- 
vance and take their colours !' ' For- 
ward!' shouted our colonel, and as 
one man we commenced to move 
down the slope towards a little run 
at its foot, which the enemy evidently 
wished to gain. Now their cannon 
were pointed to us, and round shot, 
grape, and shrapnel tore fearfully 
through our ranks, and the more 
deadly Enfield rifles were directed to 
us alone. Great heavens, how fast 
our men fell ! Marching as file-closer, 
it seemed as if every step was over 
some fallen comrade. Yet no man 
wavers ; every gap is closed up, and, 
bringing down their bayonets, the 
boys press shoulder to shoulder: and 
disdaining the fictitious courage pro- 
ceeding from noise and excitement, 
without a word or cheer, but with 
silent, ' desperate determination, 
stop firmly forward in unbroken 
line, within a hundred — within 
fifty steps of the foe. Three times 
their colours are shot down, and three 
times, arising, go forward as before. 



One-fourth of the men have fallen, 
and yet no shot has been fired at the 
enemy, who paused a moment to look 
upon that line of leveled bayonets, 
and then, panic-stricken, turned and 
ran ; but another line took their 
place and poured murderous volleys 
into us, not thirty yards distant. 
'Charge!' cried Colonel Colville; 
and with a wild cheer we ran at 
them. We fired away three, four, 
five, irregular volleys, and but little 
ammunition is wasted, when the 
muzzles of opposing guns almost 
meet. The enemy seemed to sink 
into the ground. They are checked 
and staggered; one division came up 
at this instant, and before we recov- 
ered from the bewilderment of the 
shock, we scarcely know how, but 
the rebels are swept back over the 
plain. But, good God! where was the 
1st Minnesota? Our flag was carried 
back to the battery, and seventy men, 
scarce one of them unmarked by 
scratches and bullet holes through 
their clothing, are all that formed 
around it. The other two hundred, 
alas! lay bleeding under it. Our field 
officers, rendered conspicuous by their 
great personal statures and cool and 
dashing gallantry, had all fallen, each 
pierced by several balls, and the com- 
mand devolved upon Captain Mes- 
sick. Tired and weary, we might not 
sleep, or even build fires to make 
coffee, but rested on our arms all the 



BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 



741 



"At three o'clock on the morning of the second 
instant, we were ordered into position in the front and 
about the centre of our line, just to the left of the 
town. The battle commenced at daylight and raged 
with fury the entire day. We were under a severe 
artillery fire, but not actively engaged until about five 
o'clock, p.m., when we were moved to support Battery 
I, 4th United States Artillery. Company F had 



long, dump, drizzling night, in wake- 
ful anticipation of an attack. Bed 
and fiery through the morning mists 
at length arose the sun on the third 
of July. The forenoon passed as did 
the previous one. About noon two 
guns were fired as a sort of signal, 
and immediately after one hundred 
and eighty pieces of cannon opened 
on our line. When you remember 
our formation, and that of the enemy 
conformed to it, you will see that 
their cannon were on three sides of 
us, and that their converging lines 
of fire crossed each other in all direc- 
tions over us. Many of their shot, 
fired from batteries to the west of us, 
passed clear over our ' horse shoe,' 
and fell among their own men, facing 
us from the east. Imagine our posi- 
tion in the centre ! Our artillery 
opened as vigorously in return, and 
now the scene became sublime. Two 
long, weary hours, and then came 
the lull. We knew their infantry was 
advancing, and we rose for the death- 
struggle with a feeling of relief, for 
it was at worst but man to man, and 
we could give as well as take. And 
now they emerged from the woods, 
Longstreet's whole corps, near thirty 
thousand strong. General Pickett's 
division, of about twelve thousand, 
fresh from the rear, was in front of, 



and advanced upon, our shattered 
division of less than four thousand. 
We had reserves behind, though, to 
go to our assistance if needed. Over 
the plain, still covered with the dead 
and wounded of yesterday, in three 
beautiful lines of battle, preceded by 
shirmishers with their arms at right 
shoulder shift, and with double-quick 
step, right gallantly they came on. 
What was left of our artillery opened, 
but they never seemed to give it any 
attention. Calmly we awaited the 
onset, and when within two hundred 
yards we opened fire. Their front 
line went down like grass before the 
scythe; again and again we gave it 
to them, when they changed direc- 
tion and followed a small ravine up 
towards our right. To the right we 
went also, marching parallel with 
them and firing continually, and no 
man seemed to shrink from his duty. 
Three or four brigades of the enemy 
closed together near a cave, when, 
changing again, they rushed forward 
and planted their colours on one of 
our batteries. Our brigade rushed 
at them. The tattered colours of 
the 1st, in advance, were now shot 
down, the ball passing through John 
Dehn's (the colour-bearer) right 
hand, and cutting the staff in two 
where he grasped it. Corporal 



742 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



been detached from the regiment as skirmishers, and 
Company L as sharpshooters. Our infantry, who had 
advanced upon the enemy in our front and pushed him 
for a while, were in turn driven back in some con- 
fusion, the enemy following them in heavy force. To 
check them, we were ordered to advance, which we 
did, moving at double-quick down the slope of the 
hill, right upon the rebel line. The fire we en- 
countered here was terrible, and, although we inflicted 
severe punishment upon the enemy, and checked his 
advance, it was with the loss in killed and wounded of 
more than two-thirds of our men who were engaged. 
Here Captain Muller, of Company E, and Lieutenant 
Farrer, of Company I, were killed, and Captain Peri am, 
of Company K, mortally wounded. Colonel Colville, 



O'Brien raised the flag and bore it 
on. Generals Hancock and Gibbon 
were both wounded here while cheer- 
ing us on. Orders were unnecessary. 
The fight had become a perfect melee, 
and every man fought for himself, or 
under the direction of his company 
officers. Here that noble soldier, 
Captain Messick,* was killed, and 
Captain Parrel, who had gallantly 
brought up the provost guard, Com- 
pany C, to reinforce his shattered 
regiment, mortally wounded. The 
enemy had halted, and were firing on 
us from behind some bushes. We 
pushed on ; they fired till we reached 
the muzzles of their guns, but they 
could not stand the bayonet, and 
broke before the cold steel in disor- 
der and dismay. Our division took 
more colours than it had regiments. 
Marshall Sherman, of Company C 
of this regiment, took those of 
the 28th Virginia. Not daring to 



run, their officers and men surren- 
dered in scores and hundreds. At 
this moment of victory, Corporal 
O'Brien was shot down and the 
colours fell. Corporal Irvine imme- 
diately raised that tattered but sacred 
flag of Minnesota, and again it waved 
in glorious triumph over her gallant 
dead, while the ringing shouts of 
victory along the front of our whole 
corps proclaimed that the magnifi- 
cent army which Lee had launched 
like a thunderbolt to break our 
centre, was shattered, broken and 
defeated by the old 2d, scarcely 
eight thousand strong. The reserves 
were not called upon and did not fire 
a gun, and twenty-eight battle-flags 
were added to the trophies gathered 
on the Peninsula and Antietam by 
that corps, which, in the words of 
Sumner, ' never yet lost a gun or 
colour, and never turned back in 
battle before the enemv.' " 



DEARLY BOUGHT VICTORY. 743 

Lieutenant-Colonel Adams, Major Downie, Adjutant 
Peller, and Lieutenants Sinclair, Company B, Demerest, 
Company E, De Gray, and Boyd, Company I, were 
severely wounded. Colonel Colville is shot through 
the shoulder and foot; Lieutenant-Colonel Adams is 
shot through the chest and twice through the leg, and 
his recovery is doubtful. Fully two-thirds of the en- 
listed men engaged were either killed or wounded. 
Companies F, C, and L, not being engaged here, did 
not suffer severely on this day's fight. The command 
of the regiment now devolved upon Captain Nathan S. 
Messick. At daybreak the next morning the enemy 
renewed the battle with vigor on the right and left 
of our line, with infantry, and about ten o'clock a.m., 
opened upon the centre, where we were posted, a 
most terrible fire of artillerv, which continued without 
intermission until three o'clock, p.m., when heavy 
columns of the enemy's infantry were thrown suddenly 
forward against our position. They marched resolutely 
in the face of a withering fire up to our line, and suc- 
ceeded in planting their colours on one of our batteries. 
They held it but a moment, as our regiment, with 
others of the division, rushed upon them, the colours of 
our regiment in advance, and retook the battery, cap- 
turing nearly the entire rebel force who remained alive. 
Our regiment took about five hundred prisoners. Sev- 
eral stands of rebel colours were here taken. Private 
Marshall Sherman, of Company C, captured the colours 
of the 28th Virginia Regiment. 

" Our entire regiment, except Company L, was in the 
fight, and our loss again was very severe. Captain 
Messick, while gallantly leading the regiment, was 
killed early. Captain W. B. Farrel, Company C, was 



744 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. 

mortally wounded and died last night. Lieutenant 
Mason, Company D, received three wounds, and Lieu- 
tenants Harmon, Company C, Heffelfinger, Company 
D, and May, Company B, were also wounded. The 
enemy suffered terribly here, and is now retreating. 
Our loss of so many brave men is heartrending, and 
will carry mourning into all parts of the State ; but 
they have fallen in a holy cause, and their memory will 
not soon perish. Our loss is 4 commissioned officers 
and 47 men killed, 13 officers and 162 men wounded, 
and 6 men missing. Total 232, out of less than 330 
men and officers engaged. 

" Several acts of heroic daring occurred in this 
battle. I cannot now attempt to enumerate them. 
The bearing of Colonel Colville and Lieutenant-Colonel 
Adams, in the fight of Tuesday, was conspicuously 
gallant. Heroically urging them on to the attack, they 
fell very nearly at the same moment, their wounds 
comparatively disabling them, so far in the advance 
that some time elapsed before they were got off the 
field. Major Downie received two bullets through the 
arm before he turned over the command to Captain 
Messick. Colour-Sergeant E. P. Perkins and two of the 
colour-guard successively bearing the flag, were wounded 
in Thursday's fight. On Friday, Corporal Dehn of 
Company A, the last of the colour-guard, when close 
upon the enemy, was shot through the hand and the 
flag-staff cut in tw T o; Corporal Henry D. O'Brien, of 
Company D, instantly seized the flag by the remnant 
of the staff, and, waving it over his head, rushed right 
up to the muzzles of the enemy's muskets ; nearly at 
the moment of victory he too was wounded in the 
hand, but the flag was instantly grasped by Corporal 



CHICKAMAUGA, AND MISSION RIDGE. 745 

"W. N. Irvine, of Company D, who still carries its 
tattered remnants. Company L, Captain Berger, sup- 
ported Kirby's Battery throughout the battle, and did 
very effective service. Every man in the regiment 
did his whole duty." 

On the nineteenth of September, the 2d Regiment, 
now under Colonel George for the first time since the 
fight at Mill Spring, was engaged at Chickamauga. 
It was in the 2d Brigade, 3d Division, 14th Army 
Corps, and at ten o'clock in the morning was placed 
next to Battery I, 4th United States Artillery, com- 
manded by Lieutenant Frank G. Smith. 1 The enemy 
charged desperately, and after a sharp contest was 
repulsed. The regiment lost eight killed and forty- 
one wounded. The next day the fight was resumed 
and lasted until dark. 2 

On the afternoon of the twenty-third of November 
the 2d Regiment marched from its encampment at 
Chattanooga, and was drawn up in line of battle in front 
of Fort Negley, and on the twenty-fifth it took a posi- 

1 Son of Franklin Smith, M. D., of A friend writing to Lieutenant G. 
St. Paul. W. Preseott, says: " General R. W. 

2 New York Herald correspondent Johnson fought splendidly. * * * * 
wrote: " In Branian's Division there I heard on Sunday that he was 
are the old famous regiments of which wounded and a prisoner, but after- 
the late General Robert McCook and wards learned that he was safe. I 
General Van Cleve were formerly called on him yesterday. He is not 
colonels. This was the first fight well, and thinks of taking a trip to 
since Mill Spring. * * * * The Minnesota. * * * * General Van 
big-hearted Minnesotians, whom Van Cleve lost ten out of eighteen pieces 
Cleve had enlisted two years before, of artillery. * * * * Murdoch, of 
sprang from their position in re- his staff, son of the actor and a bril- 
serve, and with loud yells, as if the liant fellow, was mortally wounded, 
sight had infuriated them, rushed Lieutenant Woodbury, commanding 
forward with fixed bayonets, drove 2d Battery, had his left arm badly 
the enemy from their guns before shattered on Saturday." 

they could be turned on us.*' 



f46 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

tion to the east, forcing the enemy at the foot and on 
the crest of Mission Ridge. With the whole brigade 
about three o'clock in the afternoon it advanced and 
came in full view of the enemy's works. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Bishop, commanding the regi- 
ment, says: "After remaining in front of this part of 
the enemy's lines for some twenty minutes, I received 
an order from Colonel Van Derveer commanding the 
brigade to advance. * * * * With bayonets fixed, 
the whole line commenced the advance. The enemy 
opened fire with musketry from the breastworks and 
artillery from the main ridge as soon as our line emerged 
from the woods, but in the face of both the men moved 
silently and steadily forward across the creek and up 
the slope, until within about one hundred paces of the 
breastworks, when, as the pace was quickened, the 
enemy broke from behind the works and ran in some 
confusion. * * * * About twenty minutes after 
the capture of the first work, my regiment moved for- 
ward with the others of the brigade, assembling on the 
colours as far as it was possible, until ascending the 
steepest part of the slope, where every man had to 
find or clear his own way through the entanglement 
and in the face of a terrible fire of musketry and ar- 
tillery. * * * * Hardly had a lodgement in the 
enemy's works been gained, when the enemy's reserves 
made a furious counter-attack upon our men, yet in 
confusion. The attack was promptly met. * * * * 
Of seven non-commissioned officers in the colour-guard, 
all but one were killed or wounded." 

The 4th Regiment was also at Chattanooga, assigned 
to the 15th Army Corps, but suffered no losses. 

The 1st Regiment, at Bristow Station, Virginia, 






FIRST REGIMENT IN VIRGINIA. 747 

on the fourteenth of October was the head of the 
column of the 2d Division of the 2d Corps, and as 
skirmishers in the woods, held the enemy in check 
until our troops could form behind the railroad. After 
the enemy was repulsed, the regiment again advanced 
and captured three hundred and twenty prisoners and 
six rebel cannon. 



748 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

MOVEMENTS OF REGIMENTS DURING THE YEAR 1864. 

As the term of the regiments first organized ap- 
proached expiration, the men were allowed to re-enlist 
and return to the State on furlough. On the eighth of 
January, 1864, the 2d left Chattanooga for Fort Snel- 
ling, and on the twenty- fourth arrived at St. Paul, with 
the exception of the companies that belonged to Fill- 
more and Olmsted Counties, which stopped at Winona. 
The 1st left their camp near Culpepper on the fifth of 
February, and after partaking of a banquet at the 
National Hotel in Washington, given by members of 
Congress and other citizens of Minnesota in the city, 
proceeded westward, and were finally welcomed at St. 
Paul on the fifteenth of February. 

A correspondent of the Springfield (Mass.) Repub- 
lican beautifully alludes to their march down the broad 
Pennsylvania avenue of the nation's capital. 

"Sunshine and shadow! coming down from the 
capitol in the street cars the other day, by us, with 
sound of fife and drum, and gay floating banner, passed 
the 1st Minnesota Regiment. It made for the gay 
avenue a pretty pageant. Its war-worn veterans, snuff- 
ing from afar the hospitalities of the city, quickened 
their steps. Its officers were proudly mounted. There 
is something enlivening in the array of battle, out of 






RETURN OF REGIMENTS. 749 

danger's reach ; the sight of it yields a cheap-bought 
patriotism and taste of martial glory. Men and women 
on the pavement stopped to look; little children 
clapped their hands, keeping time with the lively mu- 
sic ; and out of the car windows women's eyes looked 
tenderly on the brave defenders of their country. A 
stilled sob came from a pretty little woman in black, 
who sat opposite ; then tear after tear trickled down 
her pale cheeks. Every one noticed, but no one in- 
truded upon her grief. Some great sorrow had inter- 
woven her own life with the fortunes of that regiment. 
A father or brother, or, judging from her weeds, more 
likely a husband, had made of fearful import to her the 
name of Gettysburg, or Yorktown, or West Point, or 
some other of the twenty-one names engraven upon 
the blue banner. There is told, on one of those battle- 
fields, her hard, simple, common story, by a nameless 
grave or a few bleaching bones. Tears came into other 
eyes than those of the mourner, tears of tender com- 
passion; and one rough man whispered huskily, 'God 
bless her!' Yet this sorrow is only one of' the many — 
all too many— born of the valour and vicissitudes of that 
regiment. Stern statistics give us its sad story. When 
organized, it numbered 1040 men. It afterwards re- 
ceived 400 recruits; 309 sat down to the banquet pre- 
pared for them at the National Hotel. Where are the 
1141 ? * Dead, wounded, sick, and missing.' The fields 
of Gettysburg, Bull Kun, Ball's Bluff, Yorktown, West 
Point, Fair Oaks, Peach Orchard Station, Savage Sta- 
tion, White Oak Swamp, Nelson's Farm, Malvern Hill, 
South Mountain, Antietam, Sharpsburg, Charlestown, 
Ashby's Gap, Fredericksburg, twice-fought, Haymarket, 
Bristow Station and Flint Hill will be greener and 



750 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

their country's fame fairer, by the spilling of their 
blood. First, from their native State, to meet their 
country's need ; second, in Washington, from the north- 
west after the Baltimore riot, mustered in, April 
twenty-ninth, 1861, it has been ever since a brave 
and faithful portion of the Potomac Army. The pro- 
motion of its officers has been commensurate with its 
valour. One major-general and three brigadier-generals 
have gone from it. Colonel Morgan, with, I think, 
seven wounds, is in the invalid corps ; Colonel Colville, 
who is now commanding officer of the regiment, is dis- 
abled by wounds gotten at Gettysburg. He was borne 
on Saturday to the banque ting-room in the arms of 
four stalwart comrades. Lieutenant-Colonel Adams, 
now acting colonel, has made his country his debtor 
by nine scars, six of which were gotten at Gettysburg. 
The rags of what was the old flag of the regiment, 
clinging vigorously to their staff", told of the dangers 
past and victories won. They were handsomely wel- 
comed, these veterans, with viands and courtly speeches 
at the National, and with warmly throbbing hearts 
all through the city, and everywhere where hath 
reached the story of their deeds and ' the dangers they 
have passed.' And truly the story of that one regi- 
ment is the story of the whole war, the sunshine and 
shadow, side by side, — one-quarter here, with music 
and feasting, and well-earned honour; three-quarters 
out there, somewhere in the night, and cold, and hun- 
ger. One heart made joyous by the fame of a gallant 
soldier ; three more wailing over desolate hearthstones. 
At first sight these workings of Providence seem one- 
sided, jangled, and out of tune, the sunshine too narrow 
and the shadow too black ; but, in the lofty courage, 



POSITION OF REGIMENTS. 751 

the endurance and heroic purpose of this maimed little 
band, come home, not to stay, but to rest and recruit 
and go back, one catches a glimpse of a purpose lifting 
us above the exigencies of mortality. A few hand- 
shakes with old neighbours, a few sacred hours by their 
own firesides, a few days' nursing for their maimed 
leader, a few more stalwart shoulders abreast of their 
own, and that devoted band rushes back again to 
mingle its blood, if need be, with that of comrades 
gone before. May God speed them, and the cause 
which such men die for !" 

The 1st Battery, that had been attached to the 17th 
Army Corps, now commanded by Captain William T. 
Clayton, arrived early in March, and on the twentieth 
the 4th returned on furlough. 

The 3d Regiment, which, after the Indian expedition 
had been ordered to Little Rock, Arkansas,, on the 
thirtieth had an engagement with McRae's forces, 
near Augusta, at Fitzhugh's Woods. Seven men were 
killed and sixteen wounded. General C. C. Andrews, 
in command of the force, had his horse killed by a 
bullet. 

The 2d Battery, Captain W. A. Hotchkiss, having 
re-enlisted, left Chattanooga on the twelfth of April 
and returned on furlough. 

By order of the War Department, the 1st Regiment 
was mustered out at the expiration of its three years 
term of service. On the twenty-eighth of April it 
held its last evening dress-parade in the presence of 
Governor Miller, who had once commanded them, and 
a large number of spectators. 

A portion of its members were organized into a 
battalion, and in May proceeded to Washington, and 



752 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

from thence went to Virginia and joined the Army of 
the Potomac, and participated in engagements near 
Petersburg, Jamestown, Plank Road, Deep Bottom, and 
Reams Station. The 6th Regiment, which had been 
actively engaged in the Indian expedition of 1862, was 
ordered to the South in October, 1863, and in June, 
1864, was assigned to the 16th Army Corps. The 7th 
at the same time was assigned to this corps, and also 
the 9th and 10th Regiments. The 5th Regiment, 
which had been attached to the corps since January, 
was in the expedition up the Red River of Louisiana 
during the spring, and on the sixth 'of June was un- 
der Major Becht, in Hubbard's Brigade, engaged in 
battle with General Marmaduke's forces at Lake Chicot, 
Arkansas. 

On the thirteenth of July the insurgents, under 
Forrest, opened fire upon General A. J. Smith's Divi- 
sion, near Tupelo, Mis'sippi, in which were portions of 
the 5th, the 7th, the 9th, and 10th Regiments. 

During the first day's fight, Surgeon Smith of the 
7th was shot through the neck and killed. On the 
morning of the 14th the battle began in earnest, and 
the 7th, under Colonel Marshall, made a successful 
charge. Colonel Alexander Wilkin, of the 9th, while 
gallantly leading a brigade, was shot and fell dead from 
his horse. 1 

1 Alexander Wilkin will always be teers in the Mexican War. In 1849 

remembered as among the bravest he came to Minnesota, and succeeded 

of the officers who gave their lives C. K. Smith as Secretary of the Terri- 

for their country. tory. As soon as Fort Sumter was 

He was the son of Hon. Samuel J. fired upon he began to raise a com- 

. Wilkin, formerly a member of Con- pany, and when the 1st Kegiment 

gress from New Yt>rk, and was born was organized he was captain of 

in Orange County. After studying Company A. For gallantry at Bull 

law he became a captain of volun- Eun he was made captain in the 



REGIMENTS BEFORE NASHVILLE. 753 

On the fifteenth of October the 4th Regiment, with 
other troops under General Corse, were attacked near 
Altoona, Georgia, by a superior force of insurgents 
under General French, and after six hours' fight the 
latter retired. 

On the seventh of December, the 8th Regiment, with 
other troops under General Milroy, met the insurgents 
near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and drove them from 
their position. In rushing up to the enemy's batteries 
fourteen of the regiment were killed and seventy-six 
wounded. 

In the great battle before Nashville in the same 
month, the 5th, 7th, 9th, and 10th Regiments were 
engaged. The 1st Brigade, 1st Division, of General 
A. J. Smith's force, was commanded by Colonel Hub- 
bard of the 5th, and the 2d Brigade by Colonel W. R. 
Marshall of the 7th. All the Minnesota Regiments 
distinguished themselves. Colonel Hubbard, after he 
had been knocked off his horse by a ball, rose and on 
foot led his command over the enemy's works. Colonel 
Marshall also made a gallant charge, and Lieutenant- 
Colonel Jennison of the 10th was one of the first on 
the enemy's parapet, and received a severe wound. 

regular army, and then appointed was giving his orders as coolly as he 

major of the 2d, and subsequently ever did on dress-parade. He was in- 

colonel of the 9th Minnesota. The stantly killed. He was shot under the 

manner of his death is thus de- left arm, the ball passing through the 

scribed by Captain J. K. Arnold, of body and coming out under the right 

the 7th Regiment, who was hid ad- arm. I had left him but a moment 

jutant: before with an order. He never 

"The bullets and shells were flying spoke after being hit, but fell froni 

thick and fast. Colonel Wilkin sat his horse and was dead before reach, 

on his horse, and when he was struck ing the ground." 



48 



754 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

SUPPRESSION OF THE REBELLION IN 1865. 

In the spring of 1865, the 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, and 
10th Minnesota Regiments, attached to the 16th Army 
Corps, took part in besieging the rebel works at Spanish 
Fort opposite Mobile, and at Blakely, near the terminus 
of the Mobile and Montgomery Railroad. The final and 
victorious assault was begun about six o'clock on Sunday 
afternoon, the ninth of April, by two brigades of the loth 
Army Corps, commanded by General C. C. Andrews, 
formerly colonel of the 3d Minnesota Regiment. 

On this day General Lee had also surrendered his 
army to General Grant, and the rebellion ended. The 
2d and 4th Regiments and 1st Battery had accom- 
panied General Sherman in his wonderful march 
through Georgia, South and North Carolina, and the 
8th Regiment in March had moved to North Caro- 
lina from Tennessee by the way of Washington. 

The battalion that was the outgrowth of the 1st 
Regiment was active in the last campaign of the Army 
of the Potomac, commencing in March and resulting 
in the surrender of Lee's army. 

Arrangements were soon perfected for the disbanding 
of the Union army, and before the close of the sum- 
mer all the regiments that had been in the South had 
returned, and were discharged. 



SYNOPSIS OF REGIMENTS. 



75S 



SYNOPSIS OF REGIMENTS. 

Organized. 

First April, 1861. 

Second July, 1861. 

Third October, 1861. 

Fourth December, 1861. 



Fifth May, 

Sixth August, 

Seventh " 

Eighth " 

Ninth " 

Tenth " 

Eleventh August, 

Infantry Battalion May, 



1862. 
1862. 



1864. 
1864. 



Discharged. 
May 5, 1864. 

July 11, 1865. 
September, 1865. 
August, 1865. 
September, 1865. 
August, 1865. 



July, 



1865. 



Artillery. 

Organized. Discharged. 

First Regiment Heavy Artillery April, 1865. September, 1865. 

Batteries. 

Organized. Discharged. 

First October, 1861. June, 1865. 

Second December, 1861. July, 1865. 

Third February, 1863. February. 1866. 



Cavalry. 

Organized. 

Rangers March, 1863. 

Brackett's Oct. and Nov., 1861. 

Second Regiment January, 1864. 

Hatch's Julv, 1863. 



Discharged. 
Oct. to Dec. 1863. 
May to June. 1866. 
Nov. to June, 1866. 
April to June, 1866. 



Company A. 
Company B. 



Sharpshooters. 

Organized. 

1861 

1862. On duty with First 

Regiment in the Army of the Potomac. 



756 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

ADMINISTRATION OF CIVIL AFFAIRS DURING AND SINCE THE 

REBELLION. 

In consequence of the Indian outbreak in the Valley 
of the Minnesota, Governor Ramsey called an extra 
session of the Legislature, which convened on Septem- 
ber 9, 1862, and in his message urged prompt and 
severe measures to subdue the savage cat-throats. 

As long as Indian hostilities continued, the flow of 
immigration was checked and the agricultural interests 
suffered; but notwithstanding the disturbed condition 
of affairs within the borders of the State, the St. Paul 
and Pacific Railroad Company completed ten miles of 
the first railway from the capital. Governor Ramsey, 
having been elected for a second term, delivered his 
annual message before the fifth State Legislature on 
January seventh, 1863, and during the session was 
elected to supply the vacancy about to take place in the 
United States Senate by the expiration of the term of 
office of the Hon. Henry M. Rice, 1 who had been a 

1 Mr. Kice has been for years iden- and Watab Eivers. In 1853 he was 

tified with the public interests of a delegate to Congress ; re-elected in 

Minnesota. He was one of the com- 1855. Took his seat in United States 

-niissioners in 1847 who met the Pil- Senate 1858. In 1860 was on the 

lagers at Leech Lake and negotiated special committee on the Condition 

for the cession of the country be- of the Country. During his term he 

tween the Mississippi, Long Prairie, was also a member of the commit- 



GOVERNORS OF MINNESOTA. 757 

member of that body from the time that Minnesota 
was admitted into the Union. 

He continued to act as Governor until he took his 
seat in the Senate, when the Lieutenant-Governor, 
Henry A. Swift, 1 became Governor by constitutional 
provision, and held the office until the inauguration, on 
January eleventh, 1864, of Stephen Miller, 2 who had 
been duly elected by the people at the regular elec- 
tion of the previous fall. During Miller's adminis- 
tration Shakopee, or Little Six, and Tahta-e-chash- 
nah-marme, or Medicine Bottle, were tried by a 
military commission at Fort Snelling for participation 
in the massacre of white citizens during the year 
1862, and found guilty and sentenced to be hung. 
The execution took place on the tenth of November, 
1865, in the presence of the soldiers at the fort and 
a number of civilians. 3 

tees on Military Affairs, Finance, In 1856 he removed to St. Peter. 

Public Lands, and Post Office. From 1861 to 1865 he was a State 

While in Washington he united Senator, and in 1865 was appointed 

with Senators Douglas and Breckin- by the President Kegister of United 

ridge in building three elegant man- States Land Omce at St. Peter. He 

sions on H Street, still called Min- died on February 26, 1869, respected 

nesota Row ; and in one of these he and beloved by all. 
lived, and used an elegant hospi- 2 Stephen Miller was born in 1816 

tality to the citizens of Minnesota in Perry County, Pennsylvania. In 

without regard to their political 1849 was prothonotary of Dauphin 

opinions. County, and in 1855 flour inspector 

1 Henry A. Swift was born in 1823 of Philadelphia. He came in 1858 

at Eavenna, Ohio. Graduated at to Minnesota. Was lieutenant-colo- 

Western Eeserve College, studied nel of 1st, and colonel of 7th Eegi- 

law at Eavenna, and in 1845 ad- ment, and on October twenty-sixth, 

mitted to practice. 1863, was made brigadier-general. 

In 1846-7 he was assistant clerk 3 Shakopee, or Shakpedan, was born 

of House of Eepresentatives of Ohio, about 1811, and was the son of the 

and during the next two sessions was blustering, thieving chief of the same 

chief clerk. In 1853 he came to name, who died at the village of Sha- 

Minnesota and settled at St. Paul, kopee in 1860. He was a mean In- 



?58 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

William R. Marshall 1 succeeded Governor Miller on 
the eighth of January, 1866, and after serving two 
terms was followed by Horace Austin, the present Gov- 
ernor, on the seventh of January, 1870. 

The prosperity of the State during the last decade 
has surpassed the expectations of the most sanguine. 
In 1862 there were not twenty miles of railway in 
operation, while at the close of 1872 there were nearly 
two thousand, with many miles in process of construc- 
tion. 

The increase in population and agricultural produc- 
tions has been correspondingly great, and there is every 
reason to suppose that Minnesota will always continue 
to be one of the most important States in the Valley 
of the Mississippi. . 

dian, of but little mental capacity. Medicine Bottle was born about 
It is said that when the first loco- 1831, at Mendota, and was head sol- 
motive passed on the railway just dier of his brother, the chief Grey 
completed beneath the walls of Fort Eagle. 

Snelling, he pointed to it from X W. R. Marshall was born October 

his prison window and said, with a seventeenth, 1825, in Boone County, 

touch of sentiment: "There! that Missouri. Came to Minnesota in 

is what has driven us away." July, 1847, and was in 1849 member of 

His body was forwarded to Jeflfer- the first legislature of the Territory, 

son Medical College, in Philadelphia, In 1855 was nominated by the first 

and after being placed upon an ana- convention of the Republican party 

tomical table, Prof. Pancoast gave a as delegate to Congress. For several 

brief sketch of his career, and then years was engaged in banking and 

proceeded to expose his body for the mercantile pursuits. During the war 

benefit of science to the gaze of the was lieutenant-colonel, then colonel, 

students. of 7th Regiment. 



ENTBaHAL IMPROVEMENT LANDS. 759 



CHAPTER XXXVLL 

ADMIXISTR AHOIf OF GOVERNORS AUSTEN", DAVIS, AND PILLSBUEY. 

Horace Austin 1 in January. 1872, entered upon a second 
term as Governor of Minnesota, having been re-elected to the 
office by a large majority. 2 The important event of his admin- 
istration was the veto of an act passed by the Legislature of 
IS 71. dividing the Internal Improvement Lands of the State 
among several railway companies. 

Wisconsin, admitted as a State in 18^8. in her Constitution 
provided that the grant of 500,000 acres under the act of Con- 
gress approved Sept. 1. 1841, and also the five per cent, of net 
proceeds of the public lands should be used for the support of 
schools. Iowa and California made similar provision, but 
the framers of the Constitution of Minnesota paid no attention 
to these precedents, which have since been followed by Kansas, 
Oregon, and other States. 

As soon as the legislature acquired control over these lands 
under the act of 1S11, they were sought for by railroad corpo- 

1 Horace Austin was, in 1831, born in in 1869 was nominated as Governor by 

Connecticut. He received a common the Republican party, and eiected. He 

school education, and for a time worked is now an Auditor of the U. S. Treasury 

at the trade of his father. After spend- at Washington. 

Lag some time in the law office of Brad- 2 Vote for Governor, 1869. 

bury and Merril. Augusta. Maine, in 1854 Horace Austin, Republican 27,348 

he came West, and in 1855, removed to George L. Otis. Democrat 25,401 

Minnesota, and the next year became a Daniel Cobb. Temperance i,764 

resident of the town of Saint Peter. Vote for Governor. 1871. 

During Gen. Sibley's expedition of 1863, Horace Austin, Republican 45,833 

against the Indians, he served as a Cap- Winthrop Young, Democrat 30.092 

tain of Cavalry. In 1864 he was elected Samuel Mayall, Temperance 846 

Judge of the Sixth Judicial District, and 



760 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

rations, and a bill was passed in 1871 giving to them, that 
which other States had appropriated to the support of schools. 
It failed, however, to receive the approval and signature 
of the Governor, and this led to the adoption, in November, 
1873, by a vote of the people, of an amendment to the Consti- 
tution which forbids all moneys belonging to the Internal 
Improvement Land fund to be appropriated " for any purpose 
whatever, until the enactment for that purpose shall have been 
approved by a majority of the electors of the State, voting at 
the annual general election following the passage of the act/' 

During the second term of Governor Austin's administration 
the House of Representatives, through a committee, appeared 
before the Senate of 1873, and impeached William Seeger, 
Treasurer of the State of Minnesota, for misuse of the public 
funds, and embezzlement. 

The Senate, sitting as a Court of Impeachment, adjourned 
on the 7th of March, to meet on the 20th of May, 1873. 

Upon the re-assembling of the Court it was informed that 
Mr. Seeger had resigned the office of Treasurer; but it was 
resolved to receive no evidence on this point. On the 22d of 
May the Treasurer entered the plea of guilty, but denied that 
he had acted with corrupt or willful intent. The Court found 
him guilty of all the charges, and the following was unani- 
mously adopted: 

' ' Ordered, As the judgment of this Court, that William Seeger be and 
he is hereby disqualified to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or 
profit in this State." 

Cushman K. Davis, 1 on the 9th of January, 1874, delivered 
his inaugural message as Governor. 2 He called the attention 

1 Cushman K. Davis was born in the General, and served upon the staff of 
State of New York in 1838, and in hoy- Gen. Willis A. Gorman. In 1864 he set- 
hood removed with his parents to Wau- tied in St. Paul, and in 1866 was a mem - 
kesha, Wisconsin. He graduated in 1857, berofthe Legislature. In 1868 he was 
at the University of Michigan. After appointed U. S. District Attorney, 
studying law with Ex-Gov. Alex. Ean- 2 Vote for Governor, 1873. 
dall, of Wisconsin, in 1859, he was admit- Cushman K. Davis, Republican . . .40,741 

ted to the bar. In 1852 he enlisted in the Samuel Mayall, Temperance 1,036 

28th Wisconsin Volunteers, and was Ara Barton, Democrat, 35,245 

afterwards appointed an Ass't Adj't 



CASE BEFORE U. S. SUPREME COURT. 761 

of the Legislature to the importance of the State checking a 
tendency upon the part of railroad corporations to make an 
abatement of freight rates in favor of their friends at the 
expense of farmers and other customers. His language upon 
this subject was emphatic: 

"The expense of moving products has become the great 
expense of life, and it is the only disbursement over which he 
who pays can exercise no control whatever. He has a voice 
in determining how much his taxes shall be. In the ordinary 
transactions of life he can buy and sell where he chooses, and 
competition makes the bargain a just one; but in regard to 
his crops, he is under duress as to their carriage, and under 
dictation as to their price. In the very nature of things, the 
occasion must be rare which will justify any advance in the 
rates for moving grain from Minnesota. In September, 1873, 
however, when a wheat crop of unexampled abundance was 
overcrowding the means of transportation, and when there 
was every reason why there should be a reduction instead of 
an advance of rates, the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway 
Company, and the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company? 
simultaneously imposed upon our wheat crop a tax of three 
cents per bushel, by an advance of that amount in charges. 
If any administration should commit such an act as this in 
performing the functions of taxation, it would be deposed by 
an indignant constituency. No less deserving of condemna- 
tion is the policy of the companies in regard to freights which 
are moved wholly within the State." 

A case involving the power of the State to regulate the rates 
of railways, reached the Supreme Court of the United States 
during the 1874 term. It was that of the Winona & St. Peter 
Railroad, plaintiff in error, against John D. Blake and others, 
defendants. The argument for the defendants was made by 
W. P. Clough of Saint Paul. In concluding his plea Mr. 
Clough said: 

" That the plaintiff in error, or any other railroad corpora- 
tion, should be subject to legislative control in respect to the 



762 HISTORY OE MINNESOTA. 

rates of its tolls, or in respect to its dealings generally with 
the public, is not a proposition at all startling in its nature. 
On the contrary it is one in accord with the highest degree of 
public policy and interest; a proposition the truth of which 
should occasion satisfaction and not regret. 

"The experience of the world has demonstrated, that to 
regulate the compensation of all public employments is 
absolutely necessary for the protection of the public against 
imposition, inconvenience, and extortion. And such regula- 
tions are rigidly imposed everywhere and in all countries. 

u In Europe, where competition between carriers is much 
greater than in America, and where, on that account, the 
public are better protected than here by the natural laws of 
business, a system ^of control over the business of carriers, 
descending to the minutest detail thereof, has everywhere been 
deemed necessary, and everywhere been instituted. And this 
power, while it has benefited and protected the public, has 
not been found at all oppressive or injurious to the carrier. 
Nor will it be found so it this country. Mistakes on the part 
of the law making power may sometimes happen in the prac- 
tical use of its authority ; but such mistakes, when discovered, 
it is confidently believed, will be speedily and completely 
rectified. 

" The theory that the public would derive protection against 
extortion and imposition committed by railroad carriers, 
through the rule insisted upon by the plaintiff in error 
in this case, is as complete and utter a fallacy as could be 
devised. Such extortions in any individual case are small and 
petty in amount. It is the number and frequency of them 
that renders them great public evils. No individual could 
afford to enter into a legal contest with a powerful railroad 
corporation, for a few dollars, with the burden upon himself 
to make out an overcharge, however plain the fact of extortion 
might be to him. Unless the State interposes its authority 
and determines by law what is a proper charge and what is an 



WOMEN - VOTE FOR SCHOOL OFFICERS. 763 

improper one, the public will have no rights against railroad 
companies worth preservation or vindication. 

" A vested right in a railroad company to charge such rates 
of tolls as a court and jury shall declare to be proper in each 
individual case, is practically a vested right in the company to 
charge such tolls as it shall see fit; for nobody could afford to 
litigate the question with it." 

In October, 1876, the Supreme Court of the United States 
sustained the judgment of the Supreme Court of Minnesota, 
and decided that there was nothing in the charter of the rail- 
road company limiting the power of the State to regulate the 
rates of charge. 

By an act of the Legislature approved on March 5th, 1874, 
the Baldwin School 1 founded by private munificence early in 
the year 1853, was made the Preparatory Department of Mac- 
alester College. 

During the administration of Gov. Davis, the people, 
at the election of November, 1875, sanctioned amend- 
ments to the Constitution relative to judicial districts, and 
terms of office, the investment of funds from the sale of school 
lands, and permission of women to vote for school officers. 
The last amendment is in this language: '* The Legislature 
may, notwithstanding any thing in this article [Article 7, Sec- 
tion 8] provide by law, that any woman at the age of twenty- 
one years and upward, may vote at any election held for the 
purpose of choosing any officers of schools, or upon any measure 
relating to schools, and may also provide that any such women 
shall be eligible to hold any office solely pertaining to the 
management of schools/' 

l See Page 587. 



764 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

John S. Pillsbury, 1 on the 7th of January, 1876, delivered 
his inaugural message as Governor. 2 

At the outset of his administration he called the attention 
of the Legislature to the importance of making some equitable 
settlement with the holders of the State Railroad Bonds. In 
language which called forth a hearty response from every 
intelligent citizen who had dispassionately investigated the 
subject, he said — 

' No duty surely can be more obligatory upon those entrusted 
with the highest public interests than the vigilant mainte- 
nance of a sensitive public credit. Without that, indeed, little 
is left worthy of public preservation. The fact that the hold- 
ers of these obligations are debarred the ordinary remedy pro- 
vided by courts of justice, and are forced to rely wholly upon 
the honor of the State, should deepen rather than weaken the 
sense of such obligation in the minds of honorable men. 

" I will not insult your understanding or sense of justice so 
far as to attempt a serious argument in support either of the 
validity or equity of this claim upon the State. The purpose 
to evade a just obligation is never, indeed, without a pretext, 
either in public or private affairs. In this case it will suffice 
to say that there is, if possible, less than the customary excuse 
for a resort to subterfuge. The measure providing for the 
issue of these bonds underwent an unusually protracted and 
searching discussion, during the longest legislative session ever 
held in the Territory or State. Its various provisions were 
subjected to close inspection and criticism by the people, con- 
vened in public meetings, and by a jealous and watchful public 

Uolm S. Pillsbury was born on July came one of the most respected mer- 

29. 1828, at Sutton, New Hampshire, chants of Minneapolis. Since 18^3, he 

After a common school education, at has been a faithful regent of the State 

the age of sixteen he entered a store, University, and for nine sessions repre- 

and at the age of twenty-one formed a sented Hennepin county as Senator, in 

partnership with Walter Harrimon, who the Legislature of Minnesota, 
became Governor of New Hampshire. 2 Vote for Governor, Nov. 1875. 

In June, 1855, he came to Minnesota, J. S. Pillsbury, Eepublican 47.073 

and established a hardware store at D. L. Buell, Democrat 35,275 

St. Anthony, and after a few years be- 



VALIDITY OF RAIL ROAD BOJsiDS. 765 

press, and, finally, following the maturity of the scheme, ample 
time was given for its further discussion prior to its submission 
to the people; whereupon it received the popular approval by 
an affirmative vote of nearly four to one, and thus became, not 
by hasty and inconsiderate action, but by successive deliberate 
steps, a part of the Constitution, entrenched within the impreg- 
nable sanction of organic law. Moreover, the bonds thus 
provided for, were finally issued only upon the most rigid 
compliance by the obligees with every legal pre-requisite, 
insisted upon by a faithful and vigilant Executive. 

14 The bonds thus deliberately issued are held by persons in 
all parts of the country. The}' express an unmistakable obli- 
gation, attested by the great seal of the State, but they convey 
no hint of qualified payment, nor intimation that could, by 
any possibility, serve as a warning to innocent purchasers. 
Every day they thus remain dishonored threatens the lasting 
dishonor of our State. But the conclusive estopple of the last 
plea for non-payment, whether upon legal or equitable grounds, 
is the fact that the State long ago obtained by foreclosure the 
property which was the consideration for her assumption of 
the debt to secure which such property was pledged. Except 
for her obligation to pay such debt, she had no right to the 
property securing it. And moreover, this property, thus 
obtained, consisting of lands, road-beds and franchises, by are- 
grant from the State, served to forward the construction of 
the existing railroads, whose benefits we have since enjoyed. 
Can there remain a possible plea for the non-payment of a 
debt thus honestly contracted, and where. the object for whieh 
it was contracted, has been attained and enjoyed?" 

On the sixth of September, 1876, the quiet inhabitants of 
Minnesota were excited by a telegraphic announcement, that 
at midday, a band of outlaws from another State had ridden 
into the town of Northfield, recklessly discharging firearms, 
while a portion proceeding to the bank, killed the acting 
Cashier, in an attempt to take out the funds. Two of the 
desperadoes were shot in the streets, by firm citizens, and in a 



766 HISTOKY OP MINNESOTA. 

brief period, parties from the neighboring towns were in pur- 
suit of those who made their escape. After a long and weary 
search, four were surrounded in a swamp, and one was killed 
and the others captured. At the November term of the Fifth 
District Court at Faribault, the culprits were arraigned, and 
under an objectionable statute, by pleading guilty, secured an 
imprisonment for life, in place of the death they had so fully 
deserved. 

In 1874, in some of the counties of Minnesota, the Rocky 
Mountain Locust, of the same genus, but a different species 
from the European and Asiatic locust, driven eastward by a 
failure of the succulent grasses on the high plains of the 
Upper Missouri and Saskatchewan valleys, appeared as 
a short, stout-legged, devouring army, and in 1875, the 
myriads of eggs deposited were hatched out and these 
insects born within the State, taking unto themselves 
wings, flew to new camping grounds to deposit their ova. 
In consequence of their devastations, many farmers were 
deprived of successive crops. As other States between the 
Mississippi and Rocky Mountains were suffering from these 
pests, at the suggestion of Governor Pillsbury, a confer- 
ence of Governors was convened on the 25th of October, at 
Omaha, Nebraska, to devise measures by which there might 
be a diminution of their vast numbers. A circular was also 
prepared and distributed by the Governor, through the infested 
and other counties, giving directions as to the best methods of 
extermination. By visiting the suffering, pledging his personal 
credit before the assembling of the Legislature, and inciting 
the charitable to send clothing and provisions, he did much to 
sustain the desponding. 

In his annual message to the Legislature of 1877, Governor 
Pillsbury again urged upon the legislators to take steps which 
would relieve Minnesota from being any longer classed in the 
money markets of the world, with those States which repudi- 
ated obligations, to which were affixed the seal of their com- 
monwealths. 



PLENTIFUL HARVEST. 767 

An act was passed, and approved on the first of March, 
providing for the pajmient of bonds known as the " Minnesota 
State Railroad Bonds." The efficiency of the law, however, 
was conditioned upon the assent of voters, to the appropriation 
of the 500.000 acres of Internal Improvement Lands, towards 
the liquidation of these obligations; and a special election, on 
the 12th day of June, was held to adopt an amendment to the 
Constitution, to allow of the disposal of the lands for the pur- 
poses indicated. To the surprise, as well as mortification of 
those who were sensitive as to the honor of the State, the pro- 
position was rejected by a very large vote. 

The summer of 1877 lifted a burden from the hearts of the 
farmers of Minnesota. In the spring, the locusts began to 
appear in some counties, but by an ingenious contrivance of 
sheet iron covered with coal tar, their numbers were rapidly 
reduced. It was soon seen that the area occupied by the 
locusts was limited, and before the harvest time arrived they 
were devoured by parasites, or had flown away, and weeping 
was turned into joy. By observation and comparison it also 
was ascertained that usually only one hatching of eggs took 
place in the same district, and it was evident that the crops of 
1877 were to be very large. When the National Thanksgiv- 
ing Day was observed, on the 29th day of November, nearly 
forty millions of bushels of wheat had been garnered, and many 
devoutly thanked Him who had again given plenty, and med- 
itated upon the expression of the Psalmist, " He maketh peace 
within thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the 
wheat." 

Governor Pillsbury, in November, 1877, was elected by the 
people for another term of two years. 1 

At this election amendments to the Constitution were 
adopted relative to the election and term of Senators and 
Representatives; the canvassing of election returns; biennial 

1 Vote for Governor, Nov., 1877. 
J. S. Pillsbury, Republican 57,071 W. L. Banning, Democrat 39,241 



768 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

sessions of the legislature, 1 and the prohibition of the use of 
State funds for sectarian schools. 2 

At the opening of the Legislature of 1878, the Governor 
used these words relative to the action of the voters at the 
special election on the 12th of June, 1877, in refusing the pro- 
posed settlement of the Railroad Bonds: 

" The measure proposed for this purpose by the last Legis- 
lature, and submitted to the people in June last, was rejected, 
as you are aware, by an overwhelming popular vote. This 
resulted, I am persuaded, from a prevalent misapprehension 
respecting the real nature and provisions Of the proposed plan 
of adjustment. I should be sorry, indeed, to be foiced to the 
conviction that the people by this act intended other than 
their disapproval of the particular plan of settlement submitted 
to them. For in my opinion no public calamity, no visitation 
of grasshoppers, no wholesale destruction or insidious pesti- 
lence, could possibly inflict so fatal a blow upon our State as 
the deliberate repudiation of her solemn obligations. It would 
be a confession more damaging to the character of a govern- 
ment of the people than the assaults of its worst enemies. 
With the loss of public honor little could remain worthy of 
preservation. Assuming, therefore, as I gladly do, that this 
vote of the people indicated a purpose not to repudiate the 
debt itself, but simply to condemn the proposed plan for its 
payment, I shall be happy to co-operate in any practicable 
measure looking to an honorable and final adjustment of this 
vexed question.^ 

For several years, the scientific men of Germany had been 
puzzled to account for the sudden explosions within flouring 

1 Amendment to Section 1, Articled. 2 Amendment to SectUn 3, Article 8. 

"The legislature of the State shall " But in no case shall the moneys de- 
consist of a Senate and House of Repre- rived as aforesaid, or any portion there- 
sentatives, who shall meet biennially, of, or any public moneys or property, be 
at the seat of government of the State, appropriated or used for the support of 
at such time as shall be prescribed by schools wherein the distinctive doc- 
law, but no session shall exceed the trines, creeds, or tenets of any particu- 
term of sixty days. lar Christian or other religious sect, are 

promulgated or taught." 



EXPLOSION" IN FLOUR MILLS. 769 

mills, and a prize was offered for the best essay upon the sub- 
ject. A professor in Berlin was the successful essayist, and he 
contended that there was always a liability to explode when 
particles of dust of any kind were thickly distributed in the 
atmosphere of narrow ducts or poorly ventilated rooms. 1 

An explosion which occurred in Minneapolis, between seven 
and eight o'clock of the evening of the 2d of May, has renewed 
investigation, which will no doubt lead to an improvement in 
mill machinery and architecture. 

One of the largest mills in the world, known as the Wash- 
burn "A," suddenly exploded, which was followed in the 
twinkling of an eye by the explosion of two mills in the imme- 
diate vicinity, and by the conflagration of three other mills, 
the loss of eighteen lives, and the destruction of much val- 
uable property. The concussion was so great in the first 
mill that all the walls fell, and hardly one stone was left upon 
another. 

The personal unpopularity of Judge Page, which had existed 
for several years, culminated in the presentment of charges by 
the House of Representatives, at the session of 1878. On 
Wednesday, the sixth of March, the Senate of Minnesota 
organized as a Court of Impeachment, to consider articles 
against Sherman Page, Judge of the Tenth Judicial Dis- 
trict. On the 8th the Court adjourned until the 22d of May. 2 

1 Prof . McAdam of Great Britain, re- feed in one case, and led to a violent 
lates that a spider's web stopped the explosion in an English flour mill. 

2 Managers upon the part of the House of Representatives. 

S. L. Campbell, F. L. Morse. 

C. A. Gilman, Henry Hinds, 

W. H. Mead, W. H. Feller. 

J. P. West, 

Attorneys for Respondent. Officers of the Court. 

C. K. Davis, President, J. B. Wakefield, 

J. W. Losey, Secretary, Chas, W. Johnson, 

J. W. Lovely. Sergeant-at-Arms, M. Anderson. 

49 



770 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



The articles charged that his conduct had been arbitrary, 
abusive to a grand jury, and that he subjected a deputy sheriff 
to humiliating treatment. On the 28th of June the court 
voted on the several articles of impeachment, and the Judge 
was acquitted. 

During the year 1 878, one of the first men to labor for the 
welfare of the Sioux, and one of the oldest citizens of Minne- 
sota, the Rev. Gideon H. Pond, departed this life on the 20th 
of January, at his home in Bloomington, Hennepin county. 1 



1 The following letter written in 1856 to 
the author of this work, by the Rev. G. H. 
Pond, is worthy of preservation : 

" After the arrival of my brother and 
myself at Fort Snelling, in May, 1834, we 
ascertained to our satisfaction that our 
first move should be to assist the Indians 
about their cornfields, as by this we could 
show our good will, conciliate their favor, 
and the better acquire their language. 
Invited by the father of the present chief 
of Kaposia, my brother spent about one 
week at that village, helping them plow. 
The oxen were Indian property kept at 
the Fort Snelling agency. At that time 
the Indians appeared anxious that we 
should locate at that place, but after- 
wards the chief and some of the soldiers 
treated us coldly. It was not long before 
the agent [Major Lawrence Taliaferro] 
returned from the East, where he had 
spent the winter. He was from the day 
of his return our warm friend, and treat- 
ed us kindly. Major Bliss, then in com- 
mand at this post, was so much our friend 
as to surprise us. 

" Major Loomis had not then arrived. 
Mr. Sibley came the following Septem- 
ber. By advice of the agent we went to 
the Lake Calhoun band without consult- 
ing the Indians. I spent a few days with 
them, immediately after my brother re- 
turned from Kaposia, helping them plow. 
With a yoke of oxen and chain (I have it 
now) and some other necessary tools, we 
commenced to chop timber in a beautiful 
grove on the highest ground on the east 
bank of Lake Calhoun, to build a cabin. 
The village was on the lower ground, 
south or down the lake, toward Lake 
Harriet. We erected a log hut, and ob- 



tained boulders from the lake shore to 
build a fireplace and chimney. For our 
supplies we purchased a barrel of pork 
and a barrel of flour. We were unable 
to plant any thing this year'except some 
beans, which the pigeons rooted up. Till 
our hut was enclosed we left our effects 
at the agency house, carrying on our 
backs occasionally such things as we 
needed. At times I took my load 01 pork 
and flour on my back, and carried it to 
the lake to be stolen by Indians or dogs, 
and lay me down to sleep empty. More 
than once, rather than make another 
trip immediately for provisions, we dined 
on muscles from the lake ; sometimes on 
fish, but not often, for it took too long to 
take them. Cooking at first Ave found 
very unpleasant business, as well as our 
washing ; indeed, we found no change in 
this respect as long as we baked and 
washed. We did not attempt to bake 
bread but a few times. By degrees we 
adopted the habit of frying our pork at 
each meal very thoroughly, and then ad- 
ding a little water, we stirred in (lour. 
For a change we made it thicker or thin- 
ner. This was our food, and this our 
uniform manner of cooking for more 
than a year and a half. We disliked 
cooking so much that we did not cat till 
we were hungry, seldom more than tw jee 
aday,and often but once. During the sum- 
mer we had learned to talk considerably, 
and had adopted the alphabet to write 
the language which is now used, except 
we used v instead of r and / instead of g. 
" During the winter of 1834—35 we had 
taught one young man to write and read; 
for he had to write first, as there were no 
books. 






HISTORICAL SOCIETY CASE. 



71 



On the 11th of January, 1879, the Supreme Court of the 
State filed a decision in relation to the charter of the Historical 
Society of Minnesota, in which important principles relative 
to eleemosynary corporations are discussed. 

This society is the oldest incorporation of the literary class 
in the commonwealth. Its charter was prepared by the first 
Secretary of the Territory, who desired to establish an associ- 
ation for historical purposes. The charter of the New York 
Historical Society, granted in A. D. 1806, constitutes certain 



" In the summer of 1835, Dr. William- 
son and associates, and Rev. J. D. Stevens 
arrived. Mr. Stevens located himself on 
the west shore of Lake Harriet, about 
midway, on land now owned by Mr. Eli 
Pettijohn. He labored to draw the In- 
dians to him, but succeeded with only 
two or three families. Out of respect to 
the feelings of Mr. Stevens, we left Lake 
Calhoun in the tall of the same year. My 
brother went with the Indians and I re- 
mained at the Mission. After my broth- 
er's return with the Indians, in mid- win- 
ter, we opened a school at the home of 
Mr. Stevens. He prepared lessons in 
manuscript. The young Indians showed 
a great desire to learn. It was not long 
before the Indians expressed an earnest 
desire that brother and I should return to 
our old place on Lake Calhoun and teach 
them near their village; and brother 
made arrangements to do so, but Mr. Ste- 
vens did not approve, and we abandoned 
the plan. 

" In the spring of 1836 I left Lake Har- 
riet and went to Lac qui Parle, where I 
remained three years, and where, in No- 
vember, I was married. 

" About the time that I left for Lac qui 
Parle, my brother left for Connecticut, to 
study for a year. He was ordained a min- 
ister of the gospel during his absence. 
He returned to Lake Harriet. Mr. Ste- 
vens remained at the place till the sum- 
mer of 1838, and while there he opened 
a school, which resulted in some good 
to quite a number of mixed bloods. 
She who is now Mrs. Pettijohn is one of 
them, but for some reason the school fell 
through. 

" In September, 1837, the land east of 



the Mississippi was ceded to the United 
States. In April. 1838, with my wife and 
eldest daughter, I floated down in a ca- 
noe from Lac qui Parle to Mendota, and 
returned to Lake Harriet, at the earnest 
solicitation of the Indians of the Lake 
Calhoun band and their agent, and re- 
ceived the appointment of farmer for 
that band. I held that appointment til* 
I was satisfied thoroughly that I could 
turn it to no good account to the I ndians 
and then resigned and put myself under 
the Dakota Presbytery as a candidate for 
the ministry. This I had long before 
been urged to do, and I had already 
made some progress in Latin, Greek and 
French. 

" When we returned to Lake Harriet 
from Lac qui Parle, immediately the 
Indians sent some of their children to us 
for instruction ; which they continued to 
do till routed by the Chippeways from 
that place and they fled for safety to the 
banks of the St. Peters (Minnesota). 

" In April of 1837, the celebrated Hole- 
in-the-Day butchered thirteen Dakotas of 
Lac qui Parle, as you know. These butch- 
ered ones had friends living at Lake Cal- 
houn, and the next time they saw Hole- 
in-the-Day at Fort Snelling, they vowed 
they would kill him. Through mistake 
they killed another man, in consequence 
of which the son-in-law of the Lake Cal 
houn chief, the step-father of Mrs. Jan e 
Titus, was killed, and the Rum River and 
Stillwater massacres followed. This 
drove the band from Lake Calhoun, be- 
cause that was a place of peculiar danger. 
When the band left that place it split, and 
a part held with us, and the anti-mission- 
ary went away. Those who clung to us 



772 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

persons, whose names are mentioned, "and their associates", a 
body corporate and politic. The charter of the Minnesota 
Historical Society uses the same phraseology, and on the 20th 
of October, 1849, the act of incorporation was approved by 
Alexander Ramsey, first Governor of the Territory. 

The same year, with others, Governor Ramsey was associated 
with the persons mentioned in the act of incorporation, in or- 
ganizing the society, was chosen its first President, held the 
office continuouslv for nearly fifteen years, and until his ab- 
sence as United States Senator suggested a successor. 

For more than a quarter of a century most of the contribu- 
tions to the treasury, and also to the printed collections of the 
society, were by persons who were elected associates and mem- 
bers, but whose names were not mentioned in the charter. On 
the 2d of May, 1877, eleven of the nineteen whose names hap- 
pened to be in the act of 1849, having died, five of the eight 
survivors met in the office of H. H. Sibley, and elected eleven 
persons as corporators to fill vacancies, claimed to be the His- 
torical Society, and filed a record of their proceedings with the 
Secretary of State. 

As Alexander Ramsey, the first President of the Society, 
and many of the most valuable members were, by these five 
suddenly declared to have no membership, an unpleasant con- 
troversy arose, and the legislature of 1878, in making the 
annual appropriation to the society, enacted that none of it 
should be drawn from the treasury until a competent tribunal 
decided who were the rightful custodians, and managers of the 
trust and assets of the society. 

settled here, and some went to the other gave substantial expression. He soon 
bank of the river The chief, a sensible commenced to distribute tracts in the 
man, has alwayo been a decided friend of companies' quarters, and early in the 
the missionaries. If he had not, J think winter to collect as many of the soldiers 
he would still have been chief, whereas as would consent, and read to them a ser- 
a little more than a year ago he was de- mon. About that time Finney's lectures 
posed and his rival, a bitter enemy of all came out in the New York Evangelist, 
good, was advanced to the head of the and he read them in the meetings. My 
band. brother or myself generally attended* 
" Major Loomis came to this post soon Major talked, and we talked and prayed, 
after we arrived here, and we soon made Soldiers began to talk, and on the 11th of 
his acquaintance, and from the first June a Presbyterian church was formed 
formed an intimacy with him. He was a at Fort Snelling with twenty-two mem- 
man of much good feeling to which he bers." 



SUPREME COURT DECISION. 773 

The Executive Council of the Historical Society, therefore, 
in the name of the State, by the Attorney General, earned a 
quo warranto to be issued against H. H. Sibley, Aaron Good- 
rich and others, for the determination of this question. The 
case was heard by the Supreme Court, and the result was that 
H. H. Sibley and those he represented were, in legal language, 
"ousted." 

The court, in relation to the force of the word "associates," 
in the charter, remarked, "That the term as here used is not 
meaningless, as claimed by respondents, is further apparent 
from the language and the whole tenor of the act itself. It is 
first enacted 'that the nineteen persons therein designated and 
their associates be and they are hereby constituted a body cor- 
porate and politic, by the name of the Minnesota Historical 
Society,' and then, in proceeding to enumerate the specific 
powers and franchises which are conferred, and how and by 
whom they shall be exercised, this significant language is used: 
; And by that name they (the corporators and their associates) 
and their successors shall be, and they are hereby made capable 
in law to contract and be contracted with, sue and to be sued,' 
etc. The legislature could scarcely have chosen more plain 
and unequivocal language in which to express an intention 
that the continuous artificial body it was about to create should 
consist of a membership comprising the grantees named in the 
charter, their associates, and the successors of both these classes 
instead of the successors of the original grantees alone, and 
that the powers and franchises vested in the corporation, should 
belong to it as representing for the time being the entire 
body of the existing members of whatever class." 

As to the validity of an amendatory act in 1856 the Court 
said : " That there has been an unqualified acceptance by the 
society in this case of all the provisions of the act of March 
1, 1856. is beyond any reasonable controversy upon the evi- 
dence before us. At a special meeting held soon after its 
passage, a resolution was adopted and spread upon the records 
of the society, declaring an acceptance in express terms, and 
that it would then proceed to the election of an executive 
council under its provisions, to take charge of the affairs of 



774 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the corporation, as was therein provided,and such council 
was there and then unanimously elected by the members 
there present. Conceding the irregularity and even the inva- 
lidity of these proceedings, as claimed by respondents, on the 
ground that the requisite notice of such meeting had not been 
properly served upon all the members, it is clearly shown that 
their validity has remained unquestioned, and been distinctly 
and repeatedly recognized and acted upon by the society at 
various subsequent regular meetings and by various corporate 
acts for over twenty years. The entire administration of the 
affairs of the society for that whole period has been conducted 
by the executive council then chosen and ever since continued 
under the provisions of section two of the amendatory act, 
by the exercise, on its part, of the corporate powers of the 
society, and by the selection of its agents and officers, as 
therein provided, and this without any protest whatever from 
any one until quite recently. The additional privileges and 
powers granted by that act have also been used by the society 
in acquiring and holding, exempt from taxation, a large 
amount of real and personal property in excess of the limit 
prescribed by the original charter. Under these circumstances, 
there would seem to be no ground for any serious controversy 
on the question of acceptance. 

"For the reasons above stated the Court awards judgment 
against the respondents." 

On the 24th of June, 1879, the venerable Sioux missionary, 
the Rev. Thomas S. Williamson, M. D., died at the age of 
seventy-nine years at Saint Peter. 

He was the son of the Rev. William Williamson, and born 
in March, 1800, in Union District, South Carolina. His father 
had inherited slaves, but to give them their freedom, in 1805 
he removed to Adams County, Ohio. The son, Thomas, was 
sent to Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Pa., where, in 1820, 
he graduated. He then commenced the study of medicine, 
and in the spring of 1824 received the decree of M. D. from 
Yale College, 

For eight years he practised as a physician at Ripley, Ohio . 
In the spring of 1833, from a sense of duty, he commenced the 



NOTICE OF REV. T. S. WILLIAMSON, M. D. 775 

study of theology, and the next year was licensed to preach 
by the Piesbytery of Chillicothe, and was soon appointed 
by the Foreign Mission Board " to proceed on an exploring 
tour among the Indians of the Upper Misissippi, with special 
reference to the Sacs and Foxes, but also to collect what in- 
formation he could in reference to the Sioux, Winnabagos and 
other Indians." 

He visited Fort Snelling in 1834, and there found th e 
brothers Pond, who were erecting a log house at Lake Cal- 
houn. Returning to Ohio, he made his report, and on the 
18th of September was ordained by the Presbytery of Chilli- 
cothe as an Indian missionary. In April, 1835, with his 
wife and family, accompanied by a farmer assistant, Alexan- 
der G. Huggins, and his family, he left Ripley, Ohio, and on 
the 16th of May landed at Fort Snelling. He remained here 
for a few weeks, and in June organized at the Fort a Presby- 
terian church of twenty-two members. On the 9th of July, he 
established a mission on the north side of Minnesota River in 
sight of Lac-qui-Parle. In the fall of 1839 he went to Cin- 
cinnati to superintend the printing of the Gospel of Mark in 
the Dakotah language. In the year 1842, assisted by his 
associates there was prepared for the press the Book of Gen- 
esis, a part of the Psalms, and about two-thirds of the New 
Testament. In 1846 he was invited, through the Indian 
Agent, to establish a mission among the Kaposia Sioux, four 
miles below where is now the city of Saint Paul. While 
there, as has been noticed on the 481st page, he procured a 
school teacher for the insignificant hamlet, which, in 1849, 
was designated as the capital of Minnesota. 

After the treaty of 1851 he established a mission at Yellow 
Medicine, in the upper Minnesota Valley, and there he labored 
until the Sioux outbreak of 1862, and with difficulty escaped 
from the scalping knives of those for whom he had toiled and 
prayed. After this he passed two years with the Sioux who 
were in prison at Davenport, Iowa. In 1866 he followed the 
Sioux to the Missouri river, and superintended the establish- 
ment of missions among them. His last years on earth were 
passed in translating the Sacred Scriptures. He lived to read, 



776 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the proofs of the entire Bible in Dakota, although it was not 
published until after his death. His beloved colleague, Rev, 
S. R. Riggs, LL. D., the editor of the Dakota Lexicon, wrote 
of his death: "Perhaps it was most fitting that he should die 
as he lived, with no exalted imagery of the future, but a stern 
faith which gives hope and peace in the deepest waters." 

Patient, capable of enduring hardship, fond of study, plain 
in manner, slow to form, but decided in the expression of his 
opinions, a gentleman in his instincts, to those who knew him 
he appeared a calm Christian warrior, ever ready to do the 
bidding of his Master. 

In the fall of 1879 the Republican party nominated John S- 
Pillsbury, as Governor for a third term, and at the election in 
November, he received 57,741 votes, while 42,444 were given 
for Edmund Rice, the candidate of the Democratic party. 

On the night of the 15th of November, 1880, a fire was dis- 
covered in the north wing of the State Lunatic Asylum, at 
St. Peter, and it was entirely destroyed. The shrieks of the 
lunatics, and wanderings over the snow-covered prairies, can 
never be forgotten by the witnesses of the scene. Twenty- 
seven of the patients lost their lives, and it is supposed that 
the building was set on fire in the cellar, by a patient who 
had been employed in the kitchen. 

The twenty-second session and the first biennial session of 
the State Legislature convened on the 4th of January, 1881, 
and Governor Pillsbury, in his message read on the 6th, again 
urged the settlement of the State railroad bonds. In his argu- 
ment he said: 

"The liability having been voluntarily incurred, whether it 
was wisely created or not is foreign to the present question. 
It is certain that the obligations were fairly given for which 
consideration was fairly received; and the State having chosen 
foreclosure as her remedy, and disposed of the property thus 
acquired unconditionally as her own, the conclusion seems to 
me irresistible that she assumed the payment of the debt rest- 
ing upon such property by every principle of law and equity.f 
And, moreover, as the State promptly siezed the railroad pro- 
perty and franchises, expressly to indemnify her for payment 



SETTLEMENT OF RAILROAD BONDS. 777 

of the bonds, it is difficult to see what possible justification 
there can be for her refusal to make that payment." 

On the 19th of January the legislature, in joint convention, 
re-elected S. J. R. McMillan United States Senator for the 
term which on March 4, 1887, expires. 

Selah Chamberlain, in behalf of a majority of the holders of 
the State railroad bonds, having expressed a willingness to ac- 
cept new bonds to one-half of the amount of the old, an act 
was approved on March 2, 1881, for the purpose of effecting 
a liquidation of bonds which had been a source of controversy 
for so many years. 

The act provided that the Supreme Judges should hear ar- 
guments, and decide whether the legislature had power to 
provide for the payment of the bonds without submitting the 
matter to a vote of the electors of the State, and this tribunal 
was ordered on March 22, 1881, to convene. Provision was also 
made that in case any of the Supreme Judges declined to be a 
member of this tribunal, the Governor could appoint a District 
Judge. After some delay a tribunal was appointed composed 
wholly of District Judges, and about the time they were to 
enter upon their duties, David A. Secombe, of Minneapolis, 
one of the oldest lawyers of the State, asked the Supreme 
Court to issue a writ of prohibition restraining the tribunal 
from taking any action. Able arguments were heard on both 
side, and on the 9th of September the Supreme Court decided 
that the amendment of 1860 to the Constitution was invalid 
as it impaired the obligation of contracts, also that the act 
of March 2, 1881, was null and void, because it delegated 
legislative power to the tribunal created by the act. A 
writ of prohibition restraining the tribunal was therefore 
issued. 

Legal difficulties having been removed by this decision, 
Governor Pillsbury caused an extra session of the legislature 
for the settlement of the bond question, which convened in 
October, and provision was made for cancelling bonds, the 
ignoring of which, for more than twenty years, had been a 
humiliation to the more thoughtful citizens, and a blot upon 
the otherwise fair name of Minnesota. 



778 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Lucius F. Hubbard, 1 who had been Colonel of the Fifth 
Regiment, was nominated by the Republican party for Gov- 
ernor, and at the election in November, 1881, received 65,025 
votes, while 37,168 votes were polled for Richard W. Johnson, 
the nominee of the Democratic party. 

The House of Representatives of the legislature of 1881 
impeached E. St. Julien Cox, Judge of the ninth District 
for conduct unbecoming his position, resulting from the 
intemperate use of intoxicants, and the Senate, sitting as a 
Court, after a long trial, found him guilty, and he was deposed. 

The legislature had elected William Windom United States 
Senator for the term which, on March 4th, 1883, would expire, 
but in March, 1881, having been appointed by President Gar- 
field as the head of the U. S. Treasury Department, he 
resigned, and Governor Pillsbury appointed A. J. Edgerton 
to fill the vacancy until there was an election by the legislature. 

After the death of President Garfield, in September, 1881, 
from the bullet fired by an assassin, Mr. Windom resigned 
the Secretaryship of the Treasury, having been, on the 26th 
of October, by the Minnesota legislature again elected to fill 
a vacancy which had been caused by his own acceptance of 
the Secretaryship of the Treasury. A. J. Edgerton, who had 
been appointed U. S. Senator, ad interim, by the Governor, 
before this election, was in a few months made Chief Justice 
of Dakota Territory. 

On the morning of the 1st of March, 1881, the Capitol, first 
occupied in 1853, was destroyed by fire. About nine o'clock 
m the evening, two gentlemen who lived opposite discovered 
the roof was on fire, and immediately notified the occupants, 
The flames rapidly covered the cupola, and licked the flag fly- 

1 Lucius Frederick Hubbard was born private in the 5th Minnesota regiment, 
January 26th, 1836, at Troy, N. Y. His and in less than a year was its colonel^ 
father died sheriff of Rensselaer county. For military record, see page 10. 
At the age of sixteen he left North Gran- He was made Brevet Brig. General for 
ville Academy, N. Y., and learned the services in the battle of Nashville, 
tinner's trade. After living four years in After the war he returned to Red Wing, 
Chicago, in 1857 he came to Minnesota, and has been engaged in the flour and 
and established at Red Wing a paper commission business. He was State Sen- 
called the " Republican," which he con- ator 1871 to 1875. 
ducted until 1861, when he enlisted as a 



CAPITOL DESTROYED BY FIRE. 779 

ing from the staff on top. One of the reporters of the Pio- 
neer Press, who was in the Senate Chamber at the time, 
graphically describes the scene within. 

He writes : " The senate was at work on third reading of 
house bills ; Lieutenant Governor Gilman in his seat, and 
Secretary Jennison reading something about restraining cat- 
tle in Rice county ; the senators were lying back listening 
carelessly, when the door opened, and Hon. Michael Doran 
announced that the building was on fire. All eyes were at 
once turned in that direction, and the flash of the flames was 
visible from the top of the gallery, as well as from the hall, 
which is on a level with the floor of the senate. The panic 
that ensued had a different effect upon the different persons, 
and those occupying places nearest the entrance, pushing open 
the door, and rushing pell mell through the blinding smoke. 
Two or three ladies happened to be in the vicinity of the 
doors, and happily escaped uninjured. But the opening of 
the door produced a draft, which drew into the senate chamber 
clouds of smoke, the fire in the meantime having made its 
appearance over the center and rear of the gallery. All this 
occurred so suddenly that senators standing near the reporters' 
table and the secretary's desk, which were on the opposite 
side of the chamber from the entrance, stood as if paralyzed, 
gazing in mute astonishment at the smoke that passed in 
through the open doors, at the flames over the gallery, and 
the rushing crowd that blocked the doorways. The senate 
suddenly and formally adjourned. President Gilman. how- 
ever, stood in his place, gavel in hand, and as he rapped his 
desk loud and often, he yelled, 'Shut that door!' Shut that 
door! 1 

u The cry was taken up by Colonel Crooks and other sena- 
tors, and the order was finally obeyed; after which, the smoke 
clearing away, the senators were enabled to collect their senses 
and decide what was best to be done. President Gilman, still 
standing up in his place, calm and collected, as if nothing un- 
usual had happened, was encouraging the senators to keep 
cool. Colonel Crooks was giving Orders as if a battle was 
raging around him. 



780 HISTORY OP MINNESOTA. 

" Other senators were giving such advice as occurred to 
them, but, unfortunately, no advice was pertinent except to 
keep cool, aud that was all. Some were importuning the 
Secretary and his assistants to save the records, and General 
Jennison, his hands full of papers, was waiting a chance to 
walk out with them. But that chance looked remote indeed, 
for there, locked in the senate chamber, were at least fifty 
men walking around, some looking at each other in a dazed 
sort of way, others at the windows looking out at the snow- 
covered yard, now illuminated from the flames, that were heard 
roaring and crackling overhead. 

From some windows men were yelling to the limited crowd 
below, ' Get some ladders! Send for ladders!' Other windows 
were occupied. About this time terror actually siezed the 
members, when Senator Buck remarked that the fire was 
raging overhead, and at the same moment burning brands 
began to drop through the large ventilators upon the desks 
and floor beneath. 

" Then, for a moment, it seemed as if all hopes of escape 
were cut off. ******* 

But, happily, the flames having made their way through the 
dome, a draught was created strong enough to clear the halls 
of smoke. The dome was almost directiy over the entrance 
of the senate chamber, and burning brands and timbers had 
fallen down through the glass ceiling in front of the door, 
rendering escape in that direction impossible. 

"But a small window looking from the cloak room of the 
senate chamber to the first landing of the main stairway fur- 
nished an avenue of escape, and through this little opening 
every man in the senate chamber managed to get out. 

" The window was about ten feet high, but Mr. Michael 
Doran and several other gentlemen stood at the bottom, and 
nobly rendered assistance to those who came tumbling out, 
some headlong, some sideways, and some feet foremost. 

" As the reporter of the Pioneer-Press came out and landed 
on his feet, he paused for- a moment to survey the scene over- 
head, where the flames were lashing themselves into fury as 



LAW LIBRARY LARGELY DESTROYED. 781 

they played underneath the dome, and saw the flag-staff burn- 
ing, and coals dropping down like fiery hail. 

" It took but a few minutes for the senators to get out; after 
which they assembled on the outside, and they had no sooner 
gained the street than the ceiling of the senate chamber fell 
in, and in ten minutes that whole wing was a mass of flames." 

Similar scenes took place in the hall of the house of repre- 
sentatives. A young lawyer, with a friend, as soon as the fire 
was noticed, ran into the law library, and began to throw 
books out of the windows, but in a few minutes the density of 
the smoke and the approach of the flames compelled them to 
desist, and a large portion of the law library was burned. The 
portraits of Generals Sherman and Thomas, which were hung 
over the stairway, were saved. The books of the Historical 
Society, in the basement, were removed, but were considerably 
damaged. In three hours the bare walls alone remained of the 
capitol which for thirty years had been familiar to the law- 
makers and public men of Minnesota. 

Steps were immediately taken to remove the debris and build 
a new capitol upon the old site, which is rapidly approaching 
completion. 



782 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



MINNESOTA RAILWAY SYSTEM. 

The History of Minnesota would not be complete without 
at least a brief notice of the development of its far - reaching 
railway system. 

For the construction of the first railroad within the borders 
of the State, its citizens will always acknowledge their indebt- 
edness to Edmund Rice 1 and his associates. 

In 1860 the State had foreclosed the mortgages it held 
against certain railroads as security for bonds issued under the 
seal of Minnesota, and in March, 1862, the legislature incor- 
porated the Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad, and assigned to 
them certain franchises of a company chartered in 1857 as the 
Minnesota and Pacific. 

Mr. Rice, as the first President of the Saint Paul and Pacific, 
visited New York and other cities, and was successful in 
securing funds for the use of the road. A contract was made 
with Elias F Drake and other gentlemen from Ohio for the 
immediate construction of ten miles, to the town of Saint 
Anthony, now the east division of the city of Minneapolis. 

On the 28th of June, 1862, at the hour when the citizens 
were filled with anxiety by the news passing over the tele- 
graphic wires that a battle was raging in front of Richmond, 

Edmund Rice, on February 14th, 1819, linshead and Becker, was a successful 
was born in Waitsfield, Vermont. In 1842 lawyer. In 1857 he became President of 
he was admitted to the bar at Kalama- Minnesota and Pacific R. R. He has fre- 
zoo, Michigan, and became clerk of the quently been in both branches of the 
Supreme Court. During the Mexican legislature. In 1879 he was the Democrat- 
war he was 1st Lieutenant of Co. A, 1st ic candidate for Governor, and in May, 
Michigan regiment. In July, 1849, he 1881, was elected Mayor of St. Paul by a 
came to St. Paul, and for six years, as the large majority, 
senior member of the firm of Rice, Hoi- 



FIRST RAILWAY IN MLN-NESUTA. 783 

and the day before the two sharp conflicts of the First' Minne- 
sota Regiment, the first locomotive in Minnesota with a train 
of cars left Saint Paul for Saint Anthony. 

The editor of the St. Paul Press, in the issue of the 29th, 
wrote, u An important event in the history of Minnesota 
transpired yesterday. The first division of the Saint Paul and 
Pacific Railroad is finished, and trains have commenced to run 
from Saint Paul to Saint Anthony. 

" Let it he recorded for the benefit of the fut re historian of 
the vast Northwest, that on the 28th of June, 1862, the first 
link in the great chain of railroad which will, in the course of 
a few years, spread all over this State, from the valley of the 
Mississippi to the Red River of the North, and from Lake 
Superior to the Iowa boundary line, was completed, and a 
passenger train started in the direction of Pugets' Sound. 1 ' 

Early in 1864 this railway corporation was divided into two 
companies. The line from Saint Paul to Breckenridge, called 
the " First Division," was under the presidency of George L. 
Becker, 1 and the other portion remained under the presidency 
of Edmund Rice, who several times visited London. M:. Rice 
in 1864, gave his attention to the construction of a branch 
line from Saint Paul to Winona, and in 1867 the directors 
gave this the name of the Saint Paul and Chicago Railway. 

Slowly but steadily the Saint Paul and Pacific company laid 
its rails to the banks of the Red River of the North. In 1864 
the road was completed to Elk River, 34 miles from Saint 
Paul, and in 1866 to Saint Cloud, 74 miles, a branch line. On 
the main line it was, in 1867, completed to Wayzata, on Lake 
Minnetonka, 25 miles; in 1869, to Willmar, 104 miles; in 1870, 
to Benson, 134 miles, and in October, 1871, to Breckenridge, 
on the Red River, 217 miles. 

lGeorge L. Becker was born February of St. Paul and Pacific R, R., and in Feb- 

4th, 1829, in Locke, Cayuga county, N. Y. ruary, 1864, President of its First Division. 

In 1841, his father's family having re- In 18-6 was Mayor of St. Paul ; in 1857 a 

moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, he, in member of the Constitutional Conven- 

1846, graduated at the University of Mich- tion ; in 1859 elected to Congress, on the 

igan. He studied law with George Sedg- supposition that the State was entitled to 

wick, and on the 29th of October, 1849, three members. In 1857 he was the 

arrived in St. Paul, and formed a law Democratic candidate for Governor. He 

partnership with Edmumd Riee, and has also served four terms in the State 

subsequently with William Hollinshead Senate, and is President of the West- 

In 1862 he was the Land Commissioner em Railroad Company. 



784 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

In September, 1872, trains began to run on the Chicago and 
St. Paul, by way of Winona, to a point opposite the city of 
La Crosse. 

In 1873, the Saint Paul and Pacific became involved in a 
difficulty with the bondholders, and in time the court appointed 
J. P. Farley, receiver. The road subsequently was purchased 
by a syndicate of capitalists, and George Stephens, of Mon- 
treal, became President, and James J. Hill, of Saint Paul, 
Manager, and the name of the road was changed to Saint 
Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba. 

On the 22d of August, 1882, Mr. Hill was chosen President. 
The Pioneer Press the next day, in an editorial, wrote : u The 
promotion of James J. Hill to the presidency of the Saint 
Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company, at the Di- 
rectors 7 meeting yesterday, was an appropriate recognition oi 
his practical primacy in the administration of its affairs. The 
whole scheme of acquiring possession of the magnificent 
property of the bankrupt Saint Paul and Pacific railroad, 
with its splendid possibilities of future development, originated 
with Mr. Hill. He went to work to investigate the financial 
condition of the road, and was thoroughly master of the sub- 
ject, in all its details, when he finally laid the whole projeet 
before his Canada friends, and with the aid of Norman W. 
Kittson, whose active support he had early enlisted, secured 
their co-operation and the capital necessary to purchase the 
outstanding bonds at the prices then current. If Mr. Hill 
was the master spirit of this grand enterprise in its inception 
and earlier days,he has been equally its master spirit ever since. 1 ' 
The road stretches in two lines toward Lake Winnipeg, and 
the line through the valley of the Red River of the North to 
the town of St. Vincent near the line of the Dominion of 
Canada is 393 miles in length. 

In 1864, the legislature incorporated the Minnesota Valley 
Railroad, whose first President and guiding mind was Elias 
F. Drake. 1 In November, 1865, its trains ran to Shakopee, 

E. P. Drake was born in Ohio, and for way in Minnesota, for the St. Paul and 

several years was Cashier of the Ohio Pacific P. R., extending to St. Anthony. 

State Bank, and at one time Speaker of For two years, 1874 and 1875, he was a 

the Ohio Legislature. In June, 1862, State Senator in Minnesota, and is one of 

with his associates, he completed the con- the most energetic of the citizens of St. 

tract to build the first ten miles of rail- Paul. 



MINNESOTA RAILROAD CORPORATIONS. 785 

28 miles from Saint Paul ; in November, 1866, to Belle 
Plaine, 46 miles ; in December, 1867, to Le Sueur, 62 miles; 
in August, 1868, to Saint Peter, 74 miles ; in October to 
Mankato ; in December, 1869, to Lake Crystal ; in Septem- 
ber, 1870, to Madelia, 109 miles ; in November, 1870, to Saint 
Jame«, 122 miles ; in 1871, to Worthington, 178 miles, and 
the next year, bj r a branch called the Sioux City and Saint 
Paul R. R., it reached the bank ot the Missouri River. On 
the first of June, 1881, this road was consolidated with the 
West Wisconsin, and is now known as the u Chicago, Saint 
Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha R. R." 

The Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad was in 1861 
incorporated, but nothing of importance was done toward the 
linking of the waters of the Misissippi to Lake Superior, 
until 1865, when William L. Banning 1 was elected Presi- 
dent, who enlisted J. Edgar Thompson, Moorhead, Hinckley, 
Felton and other capitalists of Philadelphia in the building 
of the road. 

On the 22d of August. 1870, the cars, through the winding 
valley of the St. Louis River, reached the docks of Duluth, 
on Lake Superior, and it has been the great inlet of fuel to 
Minnesota from the coal fields of Pennsylvania, and an im- 
portant outlet for the wheat of the Northwest. 

Among those on the first train from Saint Paul was Chief 
Justice S. P. Chase, of the U. S. Supreme Court. It is now 
known as the Saint Paul and Duluth Railroad. 

The Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul is an outgrowth of 
the Minnesota Central, which was sold in 1867 to the Mil- 
waukee and Saint Paul. The line to the Iowa boundary, was, 
in 1867, completed by way of Northfield, Faribault and Austin, 
and in 1872 this company obtained possession ot the Chicago 
and Saint Paul the river route by way of Hastings, Red Wing 
and Winona, to La Crosse. It is one of the most picturesque 

1 William L. Banning was born in Wil- sota legislature. In 1861 he was appoint- 

mington, Delaware, but at an early age ed a Captain and Commissary of U. S. 

removed to the city of Philadelphia, and Volunteers, and for two years of the last 

studied law. He was in 1845 a member war, was on duty in Missouri. For about 

of the Pennsylvania legislature. In 1855 seven years he was President of the St. 

he came to St. Paul, and became a bank- Paul and Duluth R. R., when he resigned. 
er. In 1860 he was elected to the Minne- 



786 HISTOBY OF MINNESOTA. 

and best managed roads in the State, and controls the Hast- 
ings and Dakota, and the Southern Minnesota. Its central 
depot is at Minneapolis. 

The Winona and Saint Peter, organized in 1860, was the 
outgrowth oi the '* Transit" that in 1855 had been chartered. 
In 1864, the rails were laid to Rochester; in 1867, the road 
reached Waconia; in 1870, Janesville; in 1871, Saint Peter; 
in 1872, NewUlm; in 1874, the boundary of Dakota Territory. 

The Minneapolis and Saint Louis, under the efficient presi- 
dency of W. D. Washburn, was in 1877, completed to Albert 
Lea, and in 1879 to the Iowa State line. 

The Northern Pacific was chartered by U. S. Congress, on 
the 21st of July, 1861, and was completed on September 2, 
1871, to Moorehead, on the Red River, two hundred and fifty 
miles from Duluth. Owing to financial difficulties, the -com- 
pany was reorganized in 1875, and during the last year has 
made rapid strides, and soon expects to reach the gates of the 
Rocky Mountains, at Helena, Montana. 

We append a page from the last report of the Commissioner 
of Statistics of 1881, which is an admirable condensation. 



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CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION. 787 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Minnesota's representatives in congress of united 
states of america. 

From March, 1819, to May, 1858, Minnesota was a Territory, 
and entitled to send to the Congress of the United States one 
delegate with the privilege of representing the interests of his 
constituents, but not allowed to vote. 

TERRITORIAL DELEGATES. 

Before the recognition of Minnesota as a separate Territory, 
Henry H. Sibley 1 sat in Congress, from January, 1819, as a 
delegate of the portion of Wisconsin Territory which was 
beyond the boundaries of the State of Wisconsin, in 1818, 
admitted to the Union. In September, 1850, he was elected 
delegate, by the citizens of Minnesota Territory, to Congress. 

Henry M. Rice 2 succeeded Mr. Sibley as delegate, and took 
his seat in the thirty-third Congress, which convened on Dec. 5, 
1853, at Washington. He was re-elected to the thirty-fourth 
Congress, which assembled on the 3d of December, 1855, and 
expired on the 3d of March, 1857. During his term of office, 
Congress passed an act extending the pre-emption laws over 
the unsurveyed lands of Minnesota, and Mr. Rice obtained 
valuable land grants for the construction of railroads. 

William W. Kingsbury 3 was the last Territorial delegate. 
He took his seat in the thirty-fifth Congress, which convened 

1 For notices of Mr. Sibley, the reader is referred to General and Military Index. 

2 For notices of Mr. Rice, see General Index. 

3 William W. Kingsbury, in 1828, was a member of the Minnesota Legislature, 
born in Towanda, Bradford Co., Pa., and in 1857, a member of the Constitu- 
and was self-educated. He was, in 1856, tional Convention. 



788 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

on the 7th of December, 1857, 1 and the next May his seat was 
vacated by the admission of Minnesota as a State. 

STATE REPRESENTATION IN U. S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

William W. Phelps was one of the first members of U. S. 
House of Representatives from Minnesota. Born in Michigan, 
in 1826, he graduated in 1846, at its State University. In 
1854 he came to Minnesota as Register of the Land Office at 
Red Wing, and in 1857, was elected a Representative to Con- 
gress. 2 

James M. Cavanaugh was of Irish parentage, and came from 
Massachusetts. He was elected to the same Congress as Mr. 
Phelps, and subsequently removed to Colorado. 

William Windom was elected in the fall of 1859, to the 
thirty-sixth Congress, 3 and was continuously re-elected, and 
occupied a seat in the House of Representatives until 1870^ 
when he entered the U. S. Senate. 

Mr. Windom was born on May 10, 1827, in Belmont Co., 
Ohio. He was admitted to the bar in 1850, and was in 1853, 
eleeted Prosecuting Attorney for Knox Co., Ohio. The next 
year he came to Minnesota, and has represented the State in 
Congress longer than any other person. He has occupied a 
responsible position upon some of the most important com- 
mittees, and acquitted himself with honor. 

1 Vote for Delegate, 1857. 
Kingsbury, Democrat 15,188 MoClure, Republican 12,999 

2 At the first Congressional Election of two members of Congress were elect- 
of the State, by mistake, three instead ed. The vote was as follows : 

W. W. Phelps, Democrat 18,218 H. A. Swift, Republican 16,937 

J. M. Cavanaugh, Democrat 18,064 Cyrus Aldrich, Republican 16,955 

Geo. L. Becker, Democrat 18,019 M. S. Wilkinson, Republican 16,938 

3 Congressional Vote, Nov., 1859. 

1st Dist., William Windom, Rep. .21,016 C. Graham, Dem 17,417 

2d Dist., Cyrus Aldrich, Rep 21,300 J. M. Cavanaugh. Dem 17,668 



ALDRICH, D0NELLY, WILSON. 789 

Cyrus Aldrich, 1 of Minneapolis, Hennepin county, was 
elected a member of the thirty-sixth Congress, which convened 
Dec. 5th, 1859, and was re-elected to the thirty-seventh Con- 
gress. During his last term he was chairman of the Commit- 
tee on Indian Affairs. 

Ignatius Donnelly was born in Philadelphia in 1831; grad- 
uated at the high school of that city, and in 1853 was admitted 
to the bar. In 1857 he came to Minnesota, and in 1859 was 
elected Lt. Governor, and re-elected in 1861. He became a 
representative of Minnesota in the U. S. Congress which con- 
vened on Dec. 7th, 1863, and was re-elected to the thirty-ninth 
Congress, which convened on Dec. 4th, 1865. He was also 
elected to the fortieth Congress, 2 which convened in Dec, 1867. 
Since 1873 he has been an active State Senator from Dakota 
County, in which he has been a resident, and is editor of the 
Anti-Monopolist. 

Eugene M. Wilson, of Minneapolis, was elected to the forty- 
first Congress, which assembled in December, 1869. He was 
born Dec. 25, 1833, at Morgantown, "Virginia, and graduated 
at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania. From 1857 to 1861, he 
was U. S. Dist. Attorney for Minnesota. During the civil 
war he was Captain in First Minnesota Cavalry. While in 

1 Cyrus Aldrich was born in 1808, at 1849 became Receiver of U. S. Land 
Smithfield, E. I. In boyhood he worked Office at Dixon, 111., which he held four 
on a farm and went to sea. At the age years. In 1855 he removed to Minnesota, 
of 29 he came to Alton, 111., and in 1842 and in 1857 was a member of the Con- 
came to Galena, and became a propri- stitutional Convention. In 1865 he was 
etor of stage coaches. In 1845 and 1846 a member of the Minnesota Legislature, 
he was a member of the Illinois Legis- and in 1867 became Post Master at Min- 
iature. In 1847 he was elected Register neapolis, and held the office four years, 
of Deeds for Jo Daviess Co., 111., and in He died Oct. 5, 1871. 

2 Congressional Vote, Nov., 1862. 

W. Windom, Republican 8,663 A. G. Chatfield, Democrat 6,423 

I. Donnelly, Republican 7,091 W. J. Cullen, Democrat 5,019 

Congressional Vote, 1864. 

W. Windom, Republican, 13,965 H. W. Lamberton, Democrat 9,092 

I. Donnelly, Republican, 10,874 J. M. Gilman, Democrat 8,212 

Congressional Vote, 1866. 

W. Windom, Republican 13,961 J. R. Jones, Democrat 8,021 

I.Donnelly, Republican 12,022 W. Colville, Democrat 7,754 



790 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Congress he was a member of the Pacific Railroad Committee, 
and introduced a bill by which the State University obtained 
the lands which had long been claimed. 

Mr. Wilson's father, grandfather, and maternal great grand- 
father were members of Congress. 

M. S. Wilkinson, of whom mention will be made as U. S. 
Senator, was elected in 1868 1 a representative to the Congress 
which convened in Dec, 1869. 

Mark H. Dunnell. of Owatonna, in the fall of 1870, was 
elected from the First District to fill the seat in the House of 
Representatives so long occupied by Mr. Windom. 

Mr. Dunnell, in July, 1823, was born at Buxton, Maine. 
He graduated at the college established at Waterville, in that 
State, in 1849. From 1855 to 1859 he was the State Superin- 
tendent of Schools, and in 1860 commenced the practice of 
law. For a short period he was Colonel of the 5th Maine 
regiment, but resigned in 1862, and was appointed U. S. 
Consul at Yera Cruz, Mexico. In 1865 he came to Minnesota, 
and was State Superintendent of Public Instruction, from 
April, 1867, to August, 1870. Mr. Dunnell still represents 
his district. 

John T. Averill was elected in November, 1870, from the 
Second District, to succeed Eugene M. Wilson. 2 

Mr. Averill was born at Alma, Maine, and completed his 
studies at the Maine Wesleyan University. He was a member 
of the Minnesota Senate in 1858 and 1859, and during the 
rebellion was Lieut. Colonel of the 6th Minnesota regiment. 
He is a member of the enterprising firm of paper manufac- 
turers, Averill, Russell, and Carpenter. In the fall of 1872 2 he 
was re-elected as a member of the forty-second Congress, 
which convened in December, 1873. 

1 Congressional Vote, 1868. 

M. S. Wilkinson, Republican 23,724 G. W. Batchelder, Democrat 14,646 

C.C.Andrews, Republican 8,595 E.M.Wilson, Democrat 13,506 

I. Donnelly, Iadependent 11,229 

2 Congressional Vote, 1870. 

Mark H. Dunnell, Republican ....19,606 C. F. Black, Democrat 14,904 

John T. Averill, Republican 17,133 Ignatius Donnelly 14,491 



791 

Horace B. Strait was elected to the 43d and 44th Congress, 
and is still a representative. He was born on the 26th of 
January, 1835, and in 1846 removed to Indiana, In 1855 he 
came to Minnesota. In 1862 he was made Captain of the 9th 
Minnesota regiment, and became Major. 

William S. King of Minneapolis, was born, Dec. 16, 1828, 
at Malone, New York. He has been one of the most active 
citizens of Minnesota, in developing its commercial and agri- 
cultural interests. For several years he was Postmaster of the 
U. S. House of Representatives, and was elected to the 44th 
Congress, which convened in 1875. 1 

Jacob H. Stewart, M. D. was elected to the 45th Congress,2 
which convened in December, 1877. He was born Jan. 15th, 
1829, in Columbia Co., N. Y., and in 1851, graduated at the 
University of New York. For several years he practiced 
medicine at Peekskill, N. Y., and in 1855 removed to St. Paul. 
In 1859 he was elected to the State Senate, and was Chairman 
of the Railroad Committee. In 1864 he was Mayor of St. 
Paul. He was Surgeon of First Minnesota, and taken prisoner 
at first battle of Bull Run. From 1869 to 1873 he was again 
Mayor of St. Paul. 

UNITED STATES SENATORS. 

Henry M. Rice, who had been for four years delegate to the 
House of Representatives, was on the 19th of December, 1857, 
elected one of two U. S. Senators. 3 During his term the civil 

Congressional Vote, 1872. 

1st Dist— M. H. Dunnell, Eep 20,371 M.S. Wilkinson, Ind. Rep 10,841 

2d Dist— H. B. Strait, Rep 15,287 C. Graham, Democrat 10,832 

4d Dist— J. T. Averill, Rep 19,182 G. L. Becker, Democrat 12,609 

1 Congressional Vote of 1874. 

Horace B. Strait, Rep 13,742 E. St. J, Cox, Democrat 13.521 

W. S. King, Rep 17,177 E. M. Wilson, Democrat 15,060 

2 Congressional Vote of 1876. 

J. H. Stewart, Rep 22,823 McNair, Dem 20,727 

H. B. Strait, Rep 19,730 Wilder, Dem 14,990 

M. H, Dunnell, Rep 25.910 Stacy, Dem 16,065 

3 Vote for TJ. S. Senator, Dec. 19, 1857. 

Henry M. Rice, Democrat 66 David Cooper, Republican 50 

James Shields, Democrat 66 H. D. Huff, Republican 54 



792 history or Minnesota, 

war began, and lie rendered efficient service to the Union and 
the State he represented. For notices of Mr. Rice, see Gen- 
eral Index. 

James Shields, elected at the same time as Mr. Rice to the 
U. S. Senate, drew the short term of two years. 1 

Morton S. Wilkinson 2 was chosen by a joint convention of 
the Legislature, on Dec. 15, 1859, to succeed General Shields. 
During the rebellion of the Slave States he was a firm sup- 
porter of the Union. He served as Chairman of the Commit- 
tee on Revolutionary Claims, and was one of the Committee 
on Indian Affairs. 

Alexander Ramsey 3 was elected by the Legislature, on the 
14th of January, 1863, 4 as the successor of Henry M. Rice. He 
served on Naval, Post Office, Pacific Railroad, and other im- 
portant committees. The Legislature of 1869 5 re-elected Mr* 
Ramsey for a second term of six years, ending March, 1875. 

Daniel S. Norton 6 was on January 10, 1865, elected 

1 James Shieids came from Ireland in 1868 he was elected to the XL S. House 
1826, a lad of sixteen years of age. In of Representatives, and since then he 
1832 he opened a lawyer's office at Kas- has represented Blue Earth county, in 
kaskia, 111. In 1843 he was appointed which he resides, in the State Senate. 
Judge of the Illinois Supreme Court, 3 Alexander Ramsey : for notices of 
and in 1845 was made Commissioner see General Index., 

of the U. S. Land Office, Washington. 4 Vote for U. S. Senator. 

During the Mexican War he was a Brig- Alexander Ramsey, Republican 45- 

adier General, and distinguished him- A. G. Chatfield, Democrat 17 

self by gallant services. In 1849 he was 5 Vote for U. S. Senator, 1869. 

elected United States Senator from Illi- Alex. Ramsey, Rep 52 

noi8, and served six years. In 1856 he C. W. Nash, Dem 14 

came to Minnesota. After his brief 6 Daniel S. Norton, on April 12, 1829, 
term as its representative, General was born in Mt. Vernon, Knox County, 
Shields removed from Minnesota. He Ohio, and was educated at Kenyon Col- 
was for a time a General in the Army of lege. He served with the 2d Ohio regi- 
the Union during the rebellion of the ment in the Mexican War. In 1848 he 
Slavo States, and is now a resident of became a law student, and in 1850 went 
Missouri. to California, and from thence to Nica- 

2 Morton S. Wilkinson, on January 22, ragua. Returning to Ohio, he was ad- 
1819, was born at Skaneateles, N. Y. mitted to the bar in 1852, and in 1855 
After studying law, he settled at Eaton removed to Minnesota. In 1857, i860, 
Rapids, Michigan, and in 1847, came to 1863, and 1864, he was a member of the 
Minnesota. He was a member in 1849, Minnesota Senate, and of the Minne- 
of the first Territorial Legislature. In sota House of Representatives in 1862. 



NORTON", WLNDOM, m'mILLAN. 793 

to the United States Senate, as the successor of Mr. 
Wilkinson. 1 Mr. Norton, having offended the party by 
whom he was elected, its members manifested their dis- 
pleasure, in the Legislature of 1867, by the passage of 
resolutions requesting him to resign, which were unnoticed 
by the Senator, who felt that he did not go to Washington to 
be a blind instrument. Mr. Norton, who had been in feeble 
health for years, died in June, 1870. 

0. P. Stearns 2 was elected on January 17, 1871, for the few 
weeks of the unexpired term of Mr. Norton. 

William Windom, so long a member of the U. S. House of 
Representatives, was elected U. S. Senator for a term of six 
years, ending March 4, 1877, and has been re-elected for a 
second term ending March 4, 1883. 3 

S. J. R. McMillan* of St. Paul, on the 19th of February, 
1875, was elected 5 U. S. Senator for the term expiring March 
4th, 1881. 

1 Vote for United States Senator. 3 Vote for U.\S. Senator, 1877, 

Daniel S. Norton, Rep 46 William Windom, Rep 98 

James C. George, Dem 13 M. S. Wilkinson, Dem 36 

2 0. P. Stearns, on January 15, 1832, 4 S.J.R.McMillan was born at Browns- 
was born at De Kalb, St. Lawrence Co., ville, Pa., and in 1846 completed his aca- 
Kew York. In 1858 he graduated in demic education at Duquesne College, 
literature at University of Michigan, Pittsburg. He studied law in the office 
and in i860 finished his studies in the of Edwin M. Stanton, late Secretary of 
Law School of that institution. The War, and in 1849 was admitted to the 
same year he settled at Rochester, bar. In 1852 he settled at Stillwater, and 
Minnesota. He entered as a private in 1857 was elected Judge of 1st Judicial 
soldier of the 9th Minnesota Regiment, District. From 1864 to 1874 he was an 
and was appointed in April, 1864, Colo- Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, 
nel of 39th Regt, U. S. Colored Troops, and at the time of his election to the 
and was present at the attack on Fort U. S. Senate, was Chief Justice. 
Fisher, and Petersburg. 5 Vote for U. S. Senator, 1875. 

S. J. R. McMillan, Rep 82 



Wm. Lochren, Dem 61 



794 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Henry Poehler was born at Lippe Detmold, Germany, on 
the 22d of August, 1833, and came, in 1848, to the United 
States. After living in Iowa for some time, he removed to 
Minnesota, and settled at Henderson, Sibley County. 

Twice he was elected to the Minnesota House of Represent- 
atives, and twice to the State Senate. In November, 1878, 
he was nominated by the Democratic party for the U. S. 
House of Representatives, and elected. 1 

William Drew Washburn was born on January 14th, 1831, 
at Livermore, Maine. In 1854 he graduated at Bowdoin Col- 
lege, and in 1857 was admitted to the bar, and this year was 
appointed Agent of the Minneapolis Mill Company. In 1861 
he was commissioned U. S. Surveyor General for Minnesota. 
In November, 1878, he was elected, for the Third District, a 
member of the U. S. House of Representatives. 

At the election in November, 1880, MarkH. Dunnell, Henry 
B. Strait, and William D. Washburn were elected members 
of the U. S. House of Representatives 2 for the Congress which 
on the 4th of March, 1883, expires. 

HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS OF IT. S. GOVERNMENT. 

Alexander Ramsey, appointed Secretary of War by Presi- 
dent Hayes, to take the place of Judge McCrary, and in office 
until March 4, 1881. 

William Windom, appointed Secretary of the Treasury by 
President Garfield. The tall of 1881 he resigned, having been 
returned to the U. S. Senate by the Minnesota Legislature. 



I. CONGRESSIONAL VOTE, 1878. 

First District— M. H. Dunnell, Rep...l8,613 Third Districtr-W. D. Washburn, R.20,942 

— Meighen, Dem 12,845 ' I. Donnelly, D 17,929 

Second District— H. Poehler, Dem ...14,467 
H. B. Strait, Rep 13,743 

II. CONGRESSIONAL VOTE, 1880. 

First District— M. H. Dunnell 22,392 Second District— H. B. Strait 24,588 

Wells 13,768 H. Poehler 18,707 

Ward 7,650 Third District— W. D. Washburn 36,428 

H. H. Sibley 23,804 



MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. 

RECAPITULATION. 



795 



TERRITORIAL DELEGATES. 



Henry H. Sibley, - 
Henry M. Rice, 
W, W. Kingsbury, 



- 1849 to December, 1853 

- 1853 to December, 18^7 

- 1857 to May, 1858 



U. S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 



W. W. Phelps, 
J. M. Cavanagh. - 
William Windom, - 
Cyrus Aldrich, 
Ignatius Donnelly, 
Morton S. Wilkinson, 
Eugene M. Wilson, 
M. H. Dunnell, 
J. T. Averill, 
H. B. Strait, 
W. S. King, 
Jacob H. Stewart, - 
Henry Poehler, 
W.D.Washburn, - 



Dec. 1858 to 

" 1858 to 

" 1859 to 

" 1859 to 

" 1863 to 

" 1869 to 

" 1869 to 

" 1871 

" 1871 to 

'* 1871 

" 1875 to 

" 1877 to 

" 1879 to 

" 1879 



Dec. 1859 

" 1859 

" 1870 

" 1863 

" 1869 

" 1871 

" 1871 

(in office) 

Dec. 1875 

(in office) 

Dec. 1877 

" 1879 

" 1881 

(in office) 



U. S. SENATORS. 



Henry M. Rice, 
James Shields,. 
Morton S. Wilkinson, - 
Alexander Ramsey, 
Daniel S. Norton, - 
0. P. Stearns, 
William Windom - 
A. J. Edgerton, 
S. J. R. McMillan, 



- 1857 to 1863— 6 years. 

- 1857 to 1859— 2 years. 

- 1859 to 1865— 6 years. 

- 1863 to 1875—12 years. 
1865 to 1870— died in June. 

- 1871 — a few weeks. 

- 1871— in office. 

- 1881 — a few months, 

- 1875— in office. 



796 



HISTOBY OP MINNESOTA. 

GOVERNORS OF MINNESOTA. 



Alexander Ramsey, 
Willis A. Gorman, 
Samuel Medary, 



TERRITORIAL. 



- March, 1849, to May, 1853 

- May, 1853, to April, 1857 

- April, 1857, to May, 1858 



STATE. 



Henry H. Sibley, 
Alexander Ramsey, - 
Henry A. Swift, 
Stephen Miller, 
William R. Marshall, 
Horace Austin, 
Cushman K. Davis, - 
John S. Pillsbury, 
L. F. Hubbard, 



May, 1858, to January, 1860 
January, 1860, to July, 1863 
July, 1863, to January, 1864 
January, 1864, to Jan. 1866 
January, 1866, to Jan. 1870 
January, 1870, to Jan. 1874 
January, 1874, to Jan. 1876 
January, 1876, to Jan. 1882 
January, 1882, (in office) 



EAELT MAPS OF UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 7i)7 



APPENDIX A. PAGE XLV 

EARLY CHARTS OF LA.KE SUPERIOR AND UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

In the Parliament library at Ottawa, there are tracings of 
several now rare maps in the archives at Paris. One by 
Du Val, based upon Charuplain's, prepared in 1664, shows an 
isle of copper between the isles St. Joseph and St. Ignace, in 
the upper extremity of Lake Huron, and places the Nadouessis 
about the Falls of Saint Mary. 

Randin, an engineer in the service of Governor Frontenac, 
visited the western extremity of Lake Superior before Du Luth, 
and had interviews with the Sioux and Ojibways. At the 
request of Frontenac he prepared a map of the country, and 
Harrisse mentions that he called the river Mississippi, after 
the family name of the Governor of Canada, "Buade," and 
the region west of Lake Superior, also in compliment of the 
Governor, " Frontenacie." 

There is also a tracing in the Parliament library at Ottawa 
of an unpublished map in the archives of the French Govern- 
ment, prepared, apparently, before A. D. 1673, by Joliet and 
Franquelin, which calls the Wisconsin the Riviere Miscou, and 
above, on the east side of the Mississippi, marks " Mine de fer," 
then a river with an island, and thereon the word " Siou." 
Above this, on the same side, are marked the following tribes: 
Thanetsa, Pintoua, Napapat8, Sapik8ti, Chaiena, Agalomit8, 
8ssit8a, Alempigouak. To the north of Lake Superior is 
marked Lac Assinibonels. This is the only map which repre- 
sents the Cheyennes at their old home, and is the first attempt 
to trace the Mississippi above the Wisconsin. The sign like 
a figure 8, in the names, is a contraction for ou. 

Gravier in 1880, published, at Paris, an original map of 
Joliet (often written Jolliet), prepared in 1674, which marks 
the Assiniboels as north of Lake Superior, and the Nadoues- 



798 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

siz between that lake and the Mississippi, which is called, 
" Riviere de Buade," In Lake Superior Isle Royale and those 
at La Pointe appear, but without any names, and the whole 
region north of the Wisconsin Rivpr. is marked, " La Fron- 
tenacie." 

Harrisse also states that in the library of the " Depot de 
Cartes de la Marie," Paris, there is a map *of 1682, with the 
discoveries of Du Luth. The Mississippi is represented as 
rising in the country of the Tintonha, not far from which is 
marked a tree with the inscription, l ' Arms of the king graven 
on this tree in the year 1679." Harrisse mentions that there 
is a beautiful oval drawing in the corner of this map, with the 
Virgin Mary hovering above, holding a cross with the motto, 
" In hoc Signo Vinces." 

The next year, A. D. 1683, a map appeared with Hennepin's 
" Description of Louisiana," which appears to have been the 
former, with a few alterations. The same tree appears with 
the arms of the king of France, but the year 1679 is omitted. 
In the same vicinity appears a house, marked, u Missions des 
Recollects," far beyond where Hennepin claimed to have been, 
and a region which no priest had ever visited. The cartouche on 
this map is also an oval, within which is the inscription, " Carte 
de la Nouvelle France et de la Louisiana, nouuellement decou- 
urte, dediee au Roy, An. 1683, Par le Reuerend Pere, Louis 
Hennepin, Missionaire Recollect et Notaire Apostolique." 

The inscription is surrounded by an embellished design. 
In the place of a virgin carrying a cross with the motto, '* In 
hoc Signo Vinces/' as in the map of 1682, appears a cross with 
"La Triomphe de la Louisiane" printed above, and at a right 
angle with the feet on the cross, a flying angel with flaming 
sword expelling the Evil One, the demon of unbelief. 

franquelin's map, a. d. 1688. 

One of the most complete of the unpublished maps in the 
French archives is that of J. B. Franquelin, and was prepared 
in A. D. 1688, for Louis the Fourteenth. Before this he had 
made several other charts, as the hydrographer of France, re- 
siding at Quebec. As early as A. D. 1683, Governor de la 



fkakquelin's map. 799 

Barre wrote to the Minister of Marine, u The map of the 
country I have had prepared for you, will give you a perfect 
knowledge of every thing, and the means of interesting his 
Majesty therein. The young man who made these maps is 
named Franquelin. He is as skillful as any in France, but 
exceedingly poor, and in need of a little aid from his Majesty 
as an engineer; he is at work on a very correct map of the 
country, which I shall send you next year, in his name/' 

The map of 1688, a section of which is reduced, and accom- 
panies this edition of the History of Minnesota, has this title: 
ik Carte de V Amerique, Septentrionale, depuis le 25 jusqu'au 
65 degre de latitude e environ 140 et 235 degre de longitude, con- 
tenant le pays de Canada, ou la Nouvelle France, la Louisiane, 
la Floride, Virginie, Nouvelle Suede, Neuvelle York, Nouvelle 
Angleterre, Acadie, et ile de Terre Neuve. 4 feuilles. 1688." 
An examination of the part presented will show that the term 
Kamanistigouian was applied to the Three Rivers, the outlets 
of the chain of lakes which form the northern boundary of 
Minnesota. It is the only map we have seen which marks 
Du Luth's post on Lake Nepigon, Fort La Tourette, estab- 
lished after his first post at Kamanistigouia. It differs from 
the early printed maps in making one of the small streams 
below the Grand Portage the Grosilliers River. It also shows 
the trading post at the headwaters of the Saint Croix River, to 
which Bellin alludes, as abandoned. It names the post estab- 
lished by Perrot, at the time of his first visit to Lake Pepin, 
Fort St. Antoine, and correctly marks its situation on the Wis- 
consin side, a short distance above the Chippeway River. It 
also marks where the first party of Perrot wintered above Black 
River, and the first trading post at Prairie du Chien, called, in 
compliment to Perrot's baptismal name, Fort St. Nicholas, 
and marks the trail by which voyageurs at that early period 
came from Lake Superior, by way of the Montreal River, to 
the portage of Wisconsin. In notices of Du Luth and Perrot, 
further allusion will be made to this interesting chart, which 
settles several hitherto doubtful points. 

LATKR MA2TCTSCRIPT MAPS. 

From the published u Transactions of the Department of 



800 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

American History of the Minnesota Historical Society" for 
1879, is extracted the following from the November pro- 
ceedings : 

"Rev. Edward D. Neill deposited tracings of several maps, 
and read a brief description. The maps deposited are copies ot 
unpublished tracings in the archives of the French govern- 
ment, which illustrate the genesis of the northern route to 
the Pacific, west of Lake Superior. 

ochagach's map. 

fc * Ochagachs, an intelligent Indian, assured Pierre Gaultier 
de Varenne, known as the Sieur Verendrye, in 1728, while he 
was stationed at Lake Nepigon, north of Lake Superior, that 
there was a communication, largely by water, west of Lake 
Superior to the great sea, the Pacific Ocean. 

" The route rudely drawn by this Indian and others, was 
placed before the Governor of Canada, and about 1730, sent to 
France. The map places the French post, Kamanestigouia, 
first established by DuLuth and reopened in 1717 by Robertel 
de la Noue, where Fort William now stands. Pigeon river is 
called Mantohavagane. Lac Sasakanaga appears, and Rainy 
Lake is marked Tecamemiouen. The river St. Louis, of Min- 
nesota, is called the R. fond du L. Superieur, and the Indians 
appear to have passed from the headwaters of the St. Louis by 
portages to Rainy Lake. The western extremity of the map 
shows a river called the River of the West and a ridge called 
Montagnes de Pierres Brillantes. 

"The French geographer, Bellin, in his 'Remarks upon 
the Map of North America,' published in 1755, at Paris, alludes 
to this unpublished sketch of Ochagach, or Otchaga, and states 
that it was the earliest drawing of the region west of Lake 
Superior, in the Depot de la Marine, 

verendrye's sketch, a. d. 1737. 
"This unpublished chart shows Red Lake, of Northern 
Minnesota, and the point of the Big Woods in the Red River 
valley. The source of the Mississippi is a lake southwest of 
Red Lake. It also marks Fort St. Pierre, on the west shore 
of Rainy Lake, established by Jemeraye, the nephew of Veren* 



DE LA JEMERAYE'S MAP. 801 

drye, in the fall of 1731; Fort St. Charles, on the west shore 
of the Lake of the Woods, established the next year, and Fort 
Maurepas. established in 1731. near the entrance of Lake 
Winnipeg. West of the Mississippi appears the great river 
of the nation of the Coahatchalle, intended for the Missouri, 
and beyond this is the country of the Hiattcheriting. 

" The map was prepared under the direction of Pierre Va- 
rennes, the Sieur Verendrye, and was sent to France by Gov. 
Beauharuois, of Canada. 



14 The map drawn by De la Jemeraye contains the names of 
posts established after Verendrye's sketch was sent to France, 
De la Jemeraye, or Gemerais, was a brother of Mary Marga- 
ret, the widow of Francis Youville, the devout woman who 
founded the order of the Grey Sisters and a hospital at Mon- 
treal, and their mother was a sister of Sieur Verendrye. Under 
his uncle's direction, he was, in 1731, among the first to ad- 
vance from the Grand Portage of Lake Superior by way of 
the Nalaouagon, Groselliers or Pigeon River, to Rainy Lake, 
and from thence the next year to the Lake of the Woods. 

a In addition to the posts on Verendrye's sketch, is marked 
Fort Rouge, on the south bank of the Assinniboine, at its 
junction with the Red River, opposite the present Fort Garry; 
and on the Assinniboine, not many miles westward, is Fort la 
Reine, which was established as an advanced post on the third 
of October, 1738; and at the head of Lac des Prairies, now 
Manitoba, is marked" Fort Dauphin; and on the northwest 
shore of Lake Winnipeg, near the mouth of the Riviere aux 
Biches, is Fort Bourbon. 

" The Sioux are marked as dwelling at the headwaters of 
Fond du Lac, now St. Louis river, and the Tkonachipouans 
around Red Lake, in Minnesota, with the Assinniboines k> the 
west of Red River. The Assinniboine is marked St. Charles, 
in compliment to Charles Beauharnois, Governor of Canada, 
and a tributary, St. Pierre, after Pierre Verendrye. 

"At the bottom of the map, in French, is a statement to 
this effect : 



8)2 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

" i Chart of one part of Lake Superior, with the discovery 
from the Grand Portage, marked A, up to the 'barriers' (on 
the Winnipeg River.) Fort St. Charles is built at Lake of 
the Woods, and at Rainy Lake, a fort whieh bears the name 
of the lake. 

" ' The fort at Rainy Lake is about 47 deg. 21 mm. lat. 

11 ; The Grand Portage is about 47 deg. 21 min. lat. 

" ' Fort at Camanestigouia is about 47 deg. 27 min. lat. 

" ; Fort Lake of the Woods is about 48 deg. 27 min. lat. 

" ' The Barriers of Winnipeg is about 49 deg. lat. 

" ' The river from the Grand Portage to the Falls of Win- 
nipeg, lately discovered, is marked in color, the other rivers, 
upon the report of Indians, was drawn by M. De la Jemeraye.' 

" The additions beyond Lake Winnipeg appear to have been 
subsequently added. 

ANOTHER MAP. 

" The fourth map exhibited is called a 'Chart of the western 
portion of Canada, showing the recent discoveries of French 
officers west of Lake Superior, with the rivers and lakes alluded 
to by Jemeraye in his Relation of Hudson Bay.' 

" It is more extended and prepared at a later period than 
the others, and is similar to those published before A. D. 1750. 
It shows Sau It Ste. Marie on the east, and the Sea of the West 
as the western boundary. Its northern limit is Hudson Bay, 
and the southern portion shows Ouisconsing and Moingona 
rivers. Pigeon river is called the Nalaouagon, and the Red 
River flows from Red Lake. The Poskoyac River, now Sas- 
katchewan, is marked with mountains around its supposed 
source. All the forts appear which are on the Jemeraye map. 
The Bourbon, now Nelson River, is marked as flowing into 
Hudson Bay near the mouth of St. Theresa, named, says Char- 
levoix, after Grosellier's wife, now called Hayes' river. One 
hundred leagues southeasterly, enters the New Severn, or 
St. Huite's River." 



GKOSELLIERS, RADISSON, MENARD. 803 

APPENDIX B. PAGE 107. 

GKOSELLIERS AND RADISSON — THE ROUTE OF FATHER MENARD — 
REFUGEE HURONS. 

The first white men in Minnesota, of whom we have any 
record, were according to Garneau, two persons of Huguenot 
affinities, Medard Chouart, known as Sieur Groselliers and 
Pierre d'Esprit, called Sieur Radisson. 

Groselliers (pronounced Gro-zay-yay) was born near Ferte- 
sous-Jouarre, eleven miles east of Meaux, in France, and when 
about sixteen years of age, in the year 1641, came to Canada. 
The fur trade was the great avenue to prosperity, and in 1646 
he was among the Huron Indians, who then dwelt upon the 
eastern shores of Lake Huron, bartering for peltries. On the 
second of September, 1647, at Quebec, he was married to Helen, 
the widow of Claude Etienne, who was the daughter of a pilot, 
Abraham Martin, whose baptismal name is still attached to 
the suburbs of that city, the "Plains of Abraham," made 
famous by the death there, of General Wolfe, of the English 
army, in 1759, and of General Montgomery, of the Continental 
army, in December, 1775, at the beginning of the " War for 
Independence. 1 ' In 1619, he visited France. His son, Medard, 
was born in 1651, and Tanguay gives the same year as the 
date of his mother's death. After her death, the father went 
to Acadia, where he met the celebrated La Tour. Upon his 
return, on the 21th of August, 1653, he married at Quebec, 
another widow, Grand -Menil, only twenty -one years old, 
whose maiden name was Margaret Hayet Radisson, the sister 
of his associate in the exploration of the Sioux country. His 
first child by this wife, was born at Three Rivers, July 25th, 
1654 ; the second, Maria Anna was born August 7th, 1657 ; 
the third, Marguerite, was born April 15th, 1659 ; the fourth, 
Marie Antoinette, June 7th, 1661, and the fifth, Marie Jeane, 
in 1662. 

These births show, that his visits to the Indian country were 
periodic. 

radisson. 

Pierre d'Esprit, the Sieur Radisson was born at St. Malo, 
and came to Paris when a boy, and from thence to Canada, 



804 HI&TORY OF MINNESOTA. 

and at Three Rivers, in 1656, married Elizabeth, the daughter 
of Madeleine Hainault, and after her death, the daughter of 
Sir John Kirk, or Kertk, a zealous Huguenot, became his wife. 
In 1654. as Sergeant-Major, he was residing at Three Rivers, 
on the St. Lawrence. 

While in 1659-60 Groselliers had intercourse with the Assin- 
niboines. and heard of the chain of lakes reaching to Winni- 
peg, there is no evidence that he ever ascended the rivers that 
flow into Lake Superior at its western extremity. In August. 
1660, Groselliers returned trom the region southwest of Lake 
Superior, and on the 28th of the same month again departed 
from Three Rivers with his companion, Radisson, and six 
Frenchmen besides the Jesuit, Menard, and his servant, Jean 
Guerin. During the fall of 1660, or the winter of 1661, he 
seems to have been at Nepigon, and Perray, a Frenchman, 
about this time found the tributaries of a river which led north- 
easterly to Hudson's Bay. 

In the spring of 1662, Groselliers was at Qnebec, ?nd left 
on the 2d of May, with a party of ten men, on an overland 
expedition to the Sea of the North, as Hudson's Bay was 
called. 

Returning from Hudson's Bay, he made suggestions which 
appeared chimerical. A disagreement, in consequence occur- 
ring between Groselliers and his partners in Quebec, he pro- 
ceeded to Paris, and from thence to London, where he was 
introduced to Prince Rupert, the nephew of Charles L, who 
led the cavalry charge against Fairfax and Cromwell at Naseby, 
afterwards commander of the English fleet. The prince lis- 
tened with pleasure to the narrative of travel, and endorsed 
the plans for prosecuting the fur trade and seeking a north- 
west passage to Asia. The scientific men of England were 
also full of the enterprise, in the hope that it would increase 
a knowledge of nature. The Secretary of the Royal Society 
wrote to Robert Boyle, the distinguished philosopher, a too 
sanguine letter. His words were, " Surely I need not tell you 
from hence what is said here, with great joy, of the discovery 
of a northwest passage, and by two Englishmen and one 
Frenchman represented to his Majesty at Oxford, and an- 



CAPTAIN GILLAM OF BOSTON. 805 

swered by the grant of a vessel to sail into Hudson's Bay and 
channel into the South Sea." 

The ship Nonsuch was fitted out, in charge of Captain Zach- 
ary Gillam, a son of one of the early settlers of Boston, and 
in this vessel Groselliers and Radisson left the Thames in June, 
1668, and in September reached a tributary of Hudson's Bay. 
The next year, by way of Boston, they returned to England, 
and in 1670, a trading company was chartered, still known 
among venerable English corporations as " The Hudson's 
Bay Company." 

The Reverend Mother of the Incarnation, Superior of the 
Ursulines of Quebec, in a letter of the 27th of August, 1670, 
writes thus: "It was about this time that a Frenchman of our 
Touraine, name Les Groselliers, married in this country, and, 
as he had not been successful in making a fortune, was seized 
with a fancy to go to New England to better his condition. 
He excited a hope among the English that he had found a 
passage to the Sea of the North. With this expectation, he 
was sent as envoy to England, where there was given to him 
a vessel, with crew and every thing necessary for the voyage. 
With these advantages he put to sea, and, in place of the usual 
route, which others had taken in vain, he sailed in another 
direction, and searched so wide that he found the grand Bay 
of the North. * * * * * He has taken possession of 
this great region for the king of England, and for his personal 
benefit. A publication for the benefit of this French adven- 
turer has been made in England." 

Gov. Denonville wrote on the 12th of February, 1668, that 
he had appointed De Trois to go to the Bay of the North to 
establish posts, and especially to arrest Radisson and associ- 
ates, and in November, 1681, Gov. Frontenac alludes to Radis- 
son, "who is married in England." 

RENE MENARD, JESUIT MISSIONARY. 

When in August, 1660, Groselliers and Radisson left Mont- 
real to return to trade in the Lake Superior region, they were 
accompanied by eight persons, one of whom was the devoted 



$06 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

priest, Rene Menard, who appears to have stopped near what 
is still called Huron Bay, in the vicinity of Keweenaw. 

An examination of Franquelin's map of A. D. 1688, shows 
an Indian trail from Lake Superior by the Menomonee River 
to Green Bay, and another from the headwaters of the Mont- 
real River to the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin 
Rivers. 

Nicholas Perrot, who was a young man at this time, gives 
the following description of Menard's journey to the Hurons 
by way of the Mississippi: '" Father Menard, who was sent as 
missionary among the Outaouas, accompanied by certain 
Frenchmen who were going to trade with that people, was 
left by all who were with him except one, who rendered to 
him until death, all of the services and help he could have 
hoped. 

u The Father followed the Outaouas to the Lake of the Illi- 
noets [now Michigan], and in their flight to the Louisiane 
[Mississippi] to above the Black River, There the missionary 
had but one Frenchman for a companion. This Frenchman 
carefully followed the route, and made a portage at the same 
place as the Outaouas 1 ' ! If this statement is correct, Menard's 
canoe floated on the Mississippi twelve years before it was 
disturbed by the paddles of Joliet and Marquette, 

THE FLIGHT OF THE HURONS. 

About the year 1650 the Iroquois, of New York, drove the 
Hurons from their villages, and they were merged with their 
friends the Tinontates, called by the^ French, Petuns, because 
they cultivated tobacco. In time the Hurons and Ottawas 
were again driven by the Iroquois, and found a temporary 
residence on the isles of Lake Michigan at Green Bay. After- 
wards they came to the Mississippi, and ascending above the 
Wisconsin, they went west to the Ayoes [Ioway] villages, but 
were not pleased with a treeless region. 

Retracing their steps, they ascended the Mississippi, and 
were met by some of the Sioux, who were much pleased with 
the axes and knives of European manufacture which they re- 



HURONS IK WISCONSIN. 807 

ceived from them, and allowed them to settle upon an island 
about nine miles below the site of Hastings. 

Possessed of fire-arms the Hurons and Ottawas asserted 
their superiority, and incurred the enmity of the Sioux, and 
were compelled to leave. Descending the Mississippi, below 
Lake Pepin, they reached the Black River, and the Hurons 
made a retreat in the lake and marsh region between the 
sources of that and the Chippeway River, while the Ottawas 
advanced to Lake Superior, and settled at Chagouamikon, 
near the modern Bayfield, and there cultivated Indian corn 
and squash, and engaged in fishing. They hunted along the 
lake towards Kioncouan (Keweenaw) and traded with the 
Nepissings and Amikouets at Lake Almibegon (Nepigon). 

On one occasion, about A. D. 1662, the Ojibways and Otta- 
was and their allied bands, went toward Sault St. Marie, to 
catch white-fish, and perceived smoke, which the Ojibways 
ascertained ascended from a camp of one hundred Iroquois. 
Carefully approaching, the Ojibways and their associates com- 
pletely defeated their ancient foes, and the point where they 
were camped is to this day known as Iroquois Point, which is 
seen by the traveler on a steamboat after he passes around the 
Falls of St. Mary and enters Lake Superior. 

After the defeat of the Iroquois, the Ojibvvays and Ottawas 
returned in triumph to Keweenaw and La Pointe. and here 
they quietly remained until some Hurons went to hunt in the 
territories of the Sioux, fifty or sixty leagues to the westward. 
The Sioux captured some and took them to their villages, but 
did not kill them, but sent them away with presents, and 
asked them to come again. The invitation ^was accepted, and 
the Sinagos Chief of the Ottawas, with four Frenchmen and a 
number of his band entered the Sioux country, and were re- 
ceived with honor and cordiality, and they came back to La 
Pointe well pleased with their visit. 

After this some Hurons went again to hunt in the Sioux 
country, and were taken prisoners by some of the Sioux young 
men. The Chief who had entertained the Sinagos Chief was 
indignant, demanded their release, and went in person to La 
Pointe to make explanations. With five men and one woman 



808 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

he reached the Sinagos village, and then the Hurons proved 
tricky and treacherous, and persuaded the Chief of the Sinagos 
band of Ottawas to put him to death. 

Fear now compelled the Hurons to fly to Mackinaw. The 
next year they went down to Montreal and sold their furs for 
the munitions of war, and returning to Lake Superior with 
the Sinagos Chief and the Chief of the Sauks, of Green Bay, 
and some Foxes and Pottawattomies, they pushed into the 
Sioux country, and destroyed some small villages. The Sioux 
afterwards rallied in force, routed them and took the Sinagos 
and Sauk Chief prisoners. 

Sinagos was reproached for his perfidy, and in bitter irony 
he was told that he would not be put to death, as he had 
killed their Chief, while on a friendly visit. They then took 
slices from his own body, broiled them, and fed him upon his 
own flesh until he died. A Pawnee slave which was taken, 
was returned to his own tribe. About A. D. 1670 these events 
occurred. Traders and missionaries followed the Hurons and 
their allies to Keweenaw, Sault St. Marie and Mackinaw. 

In 1674, some Sioux warriors came down to Sault St. Marie, 
to make a treaty of peace with adjacent tribes. A friend of 
the Abbe de Gallinee wrote that a council was had at the fort, 
to which "the Nadouessioux sent twelve deputies, and the 
others forty. During the conference, one of the latter, knife 
in hand, drew near the breast of one of the Nadouessioux, who 
showed surprise at the movement, when the Indian with the 
knife reproached him for cowardice. The Nadouessioux said 
he was not afraid, when the other planted the knife in his 
heart, and killed him. All the savages then engaged in con- 
flict, and the Nadouessioux bravely defended themselves, but 
overwhelmed by numbers, nine of them were killed. The two 
who survived rushed into the chapel and closed the door. 
Here they found munitions of war, and fired guns at their 
enemies, who became anxious to burn down the chapel, but 
the Jesuits would not permit it, because they had their skins 
stored between its root and ceiling. In this extremity, a 
Jesuit, Louis De Boeme, advised that a cannon should be 



DECLIKE OF JESUIT MISSIONS. 809 

pointed at the door, which was discharged, and the two brave 
Sioux were killed. 11 

Governor Frontenac, of Canada, was indignant at the occur- 
rence, and in a letter to Colbert, one of the ministers of Louis 
the Fourteenth, speaks in condemnation of this discharge of a 
cannon by the consent of a brother attached to the Jesuit 
mission. 

From this period, the missions of the Church of Rome near 
Lake Superior began to wane. Shea, a devout historian of 
that church, writes: "In 1680, Father Enjalran was appa_ 
rently alone at Green Bay, and Pierson at Mackinaw; the lat- 
ter mission still comprising the two villages, Huron and 
Kiskakon. Of the other missions, neither Le Clerq nor Hen- 
nepin the Recollect, writers of the West at this time, makes 
any mention or in any way alludes to their existence, and La 
Hontan mentions the Jesuit missions only to ridicule them. 11 



APPENDIX C. PAGE 121. 

DANIEL GRETSOLON DU LUTB. 

Upon the authority of La Hontan in the Fifth Chapter, 
Lyons is mentioned as Du Luth^ birth place, but Harrisse 
writes that he was born at St. Germain en Laye, a few miles 
from Paris. 

Du Luth's first post was built fifteen leagues northeast of 
Grosellier's river, at Kamanistigoya, or Three Rivers. Baraga, 
in his dictionary, defines the modern Ojibway word, Ningita- 
witieweiag as " The place where the river divides into several 
branches. 11 

On the 5th of April, 1679, while in the woods on the south 
shore of Lake Superior, nine miles beyond Sault St. Marie, he 
writes to Governor Frontenac, that he "will not stir from the 
Nadouessioux until further orders, and peace being concluded, 



810 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

he will set up the king's arms, lest the English and other 
Europeans, settled towards California, take possession of the 
country." 

Reaching the head of Lake Superior, he probably entered 
the Sioux country by the Fond du Lac, or St. Louis River, and 
visited the great village of the Sioux Kathio, perhaps at Sandy 
Lake. An account of his explorations will be found on the 
one hundred and twenty-second page. Upon his return to 
Canada he continued in trade with his uncle Patron. 

Du Chesneau, the Intendant of Justice for Canada, on the 
13th of November, 1631, wrote to the Marquis de Siegnelay, 
in Paris, u Not content with the profits to be derived from the 
king's dominion, the desire of making money everywhere, 
has led the Governor [Frontenac], Boisseau, Dulut, and Pat- 
ron, his uncle, to send canoes loaded with peltries, to the 
English. It is said sixty thousand livres' worth has been sent 
thither;" and he further stated that there was a very general 
report that within five or six days, Frontenac and his associates 
had divided the money received from the beavers sent to New 
England. 

At a conference in Quebec of some of the distinguished men 
in that city, relative to difficulties with the Iroquois, held on 
the 10th of October, 1682, Du Luth was present. 



The discovery of the water route from Lake Superior to the 
Mississippi, through the Saint Croix River by DuLuth caused 
La Salle to look upon him as a rival, and in a letter written 
to France in August, 1682, he sought to disparage the discov- 
erer. After narrating that Aecault, or Ako, and his associates, 
Hennepin and Du Gay, in ascending the Mississippi, passed 
the Ouisconsin, or " Meschets Odeba," perhaps intended for 
Meshdeke Wakpa, River of the Foxes, and the " Black River, 
called by the Nadouessioux, Chabadeba," (Chapa Wakpa, or 
Beaver River) and the Buffalo, now Chippewa River, he con- 
tinues : 

" Thirty-eight or forty leagues above you find the river by 
which Sieur Du Luth discovered the Mississippi. He had been 



LA SALLE JEALOUS OF DULUTH. 811 

for three years, contrary to orders, on Lake Superior, with a 
band of coureurs des bois; he had borne himself bravely, pro- 
claiming everywhere that at the head of his brave fellows he 
did not fear the Grand Prevost, and that he would compel an 
amnesty. The coureurs des bois, whom he was the first to 
induce to raise the mask, have been and have returned to the 
settlements several times, loaded with goods and peltries, of 
which, during that time, they drained Lake Superior, every 
entrance to which they besieged, und this year they have pre- 
vented the Outaouacs from descending to Montreal. 

" While he was at Lake Superior, the Nadouesioux, enticed 
by the presents that the late Sieur Randin had made on the 
part of Count Frontenac, and the Sauteurs [Ojibways], who 
are the savages who carry the peltries to Montreal, and who 
dwell on Lake Superior, wishing to obey the repeated orders 
of the Count, made a peace to unite the Sauteurs and French, 
and to trade with the Nadouesioux situated about sixty leagues 
to the west of Lake Superior. Du Luth, to disguise his deser- 
tion, seized the opportunity to make some reputation for him- 
self, sending two messengers to the Count to negotiate a truce, 
during which period the comrades negotiated still better for 
beaver. 

'* Several conferences were held with the Nadouesioux, and as 
he needed an interpreter, he led off one of mine, named Faffart, 
formerly a soldier at Fort Frontenac. During this period 
there were frequent visits between the Sauteurs [Ojibways] 
and Nadouesioux, and supposing it might increase the number 
of beaver skins, he sent Faffart by land, with the Nadouesioux 
and Sauteurs [Ojibways]. The young man on his return, 
having given an account of the quantity of beaver in that re- 
gion, he wished to proceed thither himself, and, guided by a 
Sauteur and a Nadouesioux and four Frenchmen, he ascended 
the river Nemitsakouat, where, by a short portage, he de- 
scended that stream, whereon he passed through forty leagues 
of rapids [Upper St. Croix River] and finding that the Nadoue- 
sioux were below with my men and the Father who had come 
down again from the village of the Nadouesioux, he discov- 
ered them. They went up again to the village, and from 



812 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

thence they all together came down. They returned by the 
river Ouiseonsing, and came back to Montreal, where Du Luth 
insults the commissaries, and the deputy of the 'procureur 
general/ named d' Auteuil. Count Frontenac had him arrested 
and imprisoned in the castle of Quebec, with the intention ot 
returning him to France unless the amnesty accorded to the 
coureurs des bois did not release him. 

" To know the said Du Luth, it is only necessary to inquire 
of M. Dalera. He pretends to have made a remarkable dis- 
covery, and asks this country, as above the Illinois in advan- 
tage, which is very laughable, that he expects a reward for his 
rebellion. 

"Secondly, there are only three routes to go there; one by 
Lake Superior, another by the Baye des Puans, the third by 
the Islinois, and the lands of my commission. Tlie first two 
are doubtful, and it would be unnecessary to open the third to 
him to my disadvantage, he having without expense and risk 
gained much, while I have been exposed to great hardship, 
peril and loss; by the Islinois there is for him a detour of 
three hundred leagues. 

" Moreover, the country of the Nadouesioux is not a country 
which he has discovered. It has been long known, and the 
Rev. Father Hennepin and Michael Accault were there before 
him. The first, one of my soldiers, whom he enticed away. 
Besides, the region is not habitable, unfit for cultivation, there 
being only marshes full of wild rice on which the people live, 
and no advantage can be had from this discovery, whether it 
is attributed to my men or Du Luth, because the streams are 
not navigable. 

"But the king having granted us the trade in buffalo skins, 
it would be destroyed by coming and going to the Nadoue- 
sioux by any other way than Lake Superior, through which 
the Count de Frontenac can send to procure beaver, according 
to the power which he has to grant licenses." 

du luth's reply to this disparagement. 

Du Luth determined to meet the charges which had been 
made against him, and in the fall of 1682 went to France. He 



DU LUTHS VISIT TO PARIS. 813 

was in Paris in the winter of 1683, when Hennepin's first 
book appeared, and there, prepared an account of his explora- 
tions in Minnesota, for the Marquis de Seignelay, the Minister 
of Marine, which remained in manuscript until published by 
Harrisse, in IS 73, in his k ' Notes pour servir a l'Historie," etc. 

The following translation is appended to Shea's Hennepin, 
and in several particulars directly contradicts the Recollect 
Father as well as La Salle. Harrisse gives A. D. 1685, as the 
date of the letter, and is followed by Shea, which is a mistake. 
It was written in 16S3, when Du Luth was in France; in 1685 
he was in the Lake Superior region. 
Moxseigxeur: 

After having made two voyages from here to New France, 
when all the people there were then, did not believe it possible 
to discover the country of the Nadouecioux nor have any trade 
with them, both on account of their remoteness, which is more 
than 800 leagues from our settlements, and because they were 
generally at war with all kinds of nations. 

This difficulty made me form the resolution to go among 
them, a project which I could not then carry out, my affairs 
having compelled me to return to this country, when, after 
having made the campaign of Franche Comte and the battle of 
Senef, where I had the honor of being a gendarme in his 
Majesty's guard, and squire of the Marquis de Lassay, our 
ensign, I set out to return to Quebec, where I had no sooner 
arrived than the desire which I had already had to carry out 
this design increased, and I began to take steps to make my- 
self known to the Indians, who, having assured me of their 
friendship, and in proof thereof given me three slaves, whom 
I had asked from them only to accompany me, I set out from 
Montreal with them and three Frenchmen, on the first of 
September in the year 1678, to endeavor to make the discovery 
of the Nadouecioux and Assenipoulaks, who were unknown to 
us, and to make them make peace with all the nations around 
Lake Superior, who live under the sway of our invincible 
monarch. 

I do not think that such a departure could give occasion to 
any one whatever to charge me with having contravened the 



814 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

orders of the king in the year 1676, since he merely forbid all 
his subjects to go into the remote forests there to trade with 
the Indians. This I have never done, nor have I even wished 
to take any presents from them, although they have repeatedly 
thrown them to me, which I have always refused and left, in 
order that no one might tax me with having carried on any 
indirect trade. 

" On the 2d of July, 1679, 1 had the honor to plant his 
Majesty's arms in the great village of the Nadouecioux called 
Izatys, where never had a Frenchman been, no more than at 
the Songaskitons and Houetbatons, distant six score leagues 
from the former, where I also planted his Majesty's arms, in 
the same year, 1679. 

" On the 15th of September, having given the Agrenipoulaks 
as well as all the other northern nations a rendezvous at the 
extremity of Lake Superior, to induce them to make peace 
with the Nadouecioux. their common enemy, they were all 
there, and I was happy enough to gain their esteem and 
friendship, to unite them together; and in order that the peace 
might be lasting among them, I thought that I could not 
cement it better than by inducing the nations to make recip- 
rocal marriages with each other. This I could not effect with- 
out great expense. The following winter I made them hold 
meetings in the woods, which I attended, in order that they 
might hunt together, give banquets, and, by this means con- 
tract a closer friendship. 

" The presents which it cost me to induce the Indians to go 
down to Montreal, who had been diverted by the Apenagaux 
aud Abenakis at the instigation of the English and Dutch 
who made them believe that the plague raged in the French 
Settlements, and that it had spread as far as Nipissingue^ 
where most of the Nipissirinians had died of it, have also 
entailed a greater expense. 

" In June, 1680, not being satisfied with having made my 
discovery by land, I took two canoes, with an Indian, who 
was my interpreter, and four Frenchmen, to seek means to 
make it by water. With this view I entered a river which 
empties eight leagues 'frorn the extremity of Lake Superior on 



DU LUTH MEETS HENNEPIN". 815 

the south side; where, after having cut some trees and broken 
about a hundred beaver dams, I reached the upper waters of 
the said river, and then I made a portage of half a league, to 
reach a lake the outlet of which fell into a very fine river, 
which took me down to the Mississippi. Being there, I learned 
from eight cabins of Nadouecioux whom I met, that the Rev- 
erend Father Louis Hennepin, Recollect, now at the convent 
of St. Germain, with two other Frenchmen, had been robbed 
and earned off as slaves for more than 300 leagues, by the 
Nadouecioux, themselves. 

" This intelligence surprised me so much that, without hesi- 
tating, I left two Frenchmen with these said eight cabins of 
Indians, as well as the goods which I had to make presents, 
and took one of the said Indians, to whom I made a present, 
to guide me, with my interpreter and two Frenchmen, to where 
the said Reverend Father Louis was; and as it was a good 80 
leagues, I proceeded in a canoe two days and two nights, and 
the next day at ttn o'clock in the morning, I found him with 
about 1000 or 1100 souls. The want of respect which they 
showed to the said Reverend Father provoked me ; and this I 
showed them, telling them that he was my brother. And I 
had him placed in my canoe, to come with me into the villages, 
to the said Nadouecioux; whither I took him, and in which, a 
week after our arrival there, I caused a council to be convened 
exposing the ill treatment which they had been guilty of. both 
to the said Reverend Father and to the other two Frenchmen 
who were with him; having robbed them and carried them off 
as slaves, and even taken the priestly vestments of the said 
Reverend Father. I had two calumets which they had danced 
to them, returned to them on account of the insult which 
they had offered to them, being what they hold most in esteem 
among them to appease matters; telling them 1 did not take 
calumets from people, who, after they had seen me and received 
my peace presents, and been for a year always with French- 
men, robbed them when they went to visit them. 

14 Each one in the council endeavored to throw the blame 
from himself, but their excuses did not prevent my telling the 
Reverend Father Louis that he would have to come with me 



816 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

towards the Outagamys, as he did; showing him that it would 
strike a blow at the French nation, in a new discovery, to suf- 
fer an insult of this nature without manifesting resentment, 
although my design was to push on to the sea in a west north- 
westerly direction, which is that which is believed to be the 
Red Sea [Gulf of California], whence the Indians who had 
gone warring on that side gave salt to three Frenchmen whom 
I had sent exploring, and who brought me said salt, having 
reported to me that the Indians had told them that it was 
only twenty days' journey from where they were to find the 
great lake of which the waters were worthless to drink. This 
has made me believe that it would not be absolutely difficult 
to find it, if permission would be given to go there. However, 
I preferred to retrace my steps, manifesting to them the just 
indignation which I felt against them rather than to remain 
after the violence which they had done to the Reverend Father 
and the other two Frenchmen who were with him, whom I 
put in my canoes, and brought them back to Michelimakinak, 
a mission of the Reverend Jesuit Fathers; where, while winter- 
ing together, I learned that, far from being approved for what 
I was doing, consuming my property and risking my life daily, 
I was regarded as the chief of- a band; although I never had 
mote than eight men with me. 

u It was not necessary to tell me more to induce me to set out 
over the ice, on the 29th of March in the year 1681, with the 
said Reverend Father and two other Frenchmen, having our 
canoe and provisions dragged along, in order to reach our 
settlements as soon as possible, and to make manifest the up- 
rightness of my conduct, having never been in a humor to 
wish myself withdrawn from the obedienee which is due to 
the king's orders. 

" I accordingly proceeded to our settlements three months 
before the amnesty, which it has pleased his Majesty to grant 
to his subjects who might have contravened his orders, had 
arrived; but the Intendent was unwilling to hear any request 
that I might have been able to present to him. 

" As to the manner in which I lived on that voyage, it would 
be superfluous for me to expatiate on the subject, and to annoy 



DC LUTH STATIONED AT MACKINAW. 817 

your Grace by a long story, being convinced that thirteen 
original letters from the Reverend Nouvel, Superior of the 
Ontaonais missions; the Reverend Father Enjolran, missionary 
of Saint Francis de Borgias; the Reverend Father Biilloquet. 
missionary of Sainte Marie du Sault, and the Reverend Father 
Pierson, missionary of the Hurons, at St. Ignace, all Jesuits 
will suffice, on the whole, to inform your Grace amply and' 

fully." 

Early in the spring of 1683, DuLuth had returned to America, 
and he was stationed at Mackinaw, where he was sent by Gov. 
De la Barre, with thirty men and six canoes, to visit the Illi- 
nois country; which La Salle considered an infringement upon 
his rights. During the summer of this year he formed alli- 
ances with the Indians who came down to the west and north 
shores of Lake Superior. On the 9th of November, the Gov- 
ernor of Canada wrote to the French Government that these 
Indians, "when they heard by expresses sent them by DuLhut, 
on his arrival at Missilimakinak, that he was coming, they 
sent him word to come quickly, and they would unite with 
him to prevent all others going thither. ***** The 
English of the Bay [Hudson's | excite against us the savages, 
who Sieur Du Lhut alone can quiet." 

During the summer of 1683, two traders, Colin Berthot and 
Jacques Le Maire, while on their way to Keweenaw, on Lake 
Superior, were robbed and murdered. On the 24th of October, 
Du Luth, still at Mackinaw, was informed that one of the ac- 
complices had arrived at Sault St. Marie with fifteen families 
of Ojibways who had fled from La Pointe, to escape from the 
44 Xadouecioux," who meditated revenge for an attack they 
had made upon them, which they had made that spring. 

The next day after Du Luth received this information, he 
left Mackinaw in a canoe, accompanied by Father Engelran 
and six Frenchmen, the Chevalier de Fourcelle, Cardonniere, 
Baribauld, Le Mere, La Fortune and Macons, aud at Sault St. 
Marie, took steps for the arrest of the other murderers, who 
were near Keweenaw. 

On the 21th of November, Perray, at ten o'clock at night, 
arrived with the intelligence that he had brought the assas- 



818 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

sins, and left them at a point four leagues distant. The next 
day at day-break he returned with four men to the prisoners, 
who were under a guard of twelve Frenchmen, and at two 
o'clock the same afternoon they were brought to Sault St. 
Marie, and confined in a room of the house Du Luth occupied. 
After a fair trial they were found guilty, and sentenced to 
death. One was pardoned, and on the 29th of November, the 
other two were led out by Du Luth, at the head of forty-two 
Frenchmen, and shot. 

During the winter of 1683-4, Du Luth was at a post fifteen 
leagues above what is known as the Grand Portage, the site 
of what is now Fort William, at the extremity of Lake Supe- 
rior, La Hontan, in "Memoires de 1'Amerique Septentrionale," 
printed at La Have, 1702, writes, U M. Dulhut had established 
a fort with pickets, in which he bad a store -house filled with 
goods, and the fort was called ' Camanistigoyan,' and inter- 
cepted the trade with English of Hudson's Bay." 

In March, 1684, a band of Senecas and Cayugas attacked 
seven canoes filled with goods and manned by fourteen French- 
men, in the Illinois country, and Governor De la Barre, of 
Canada, determined to punish them, and sent to the Lake 
Superior region for Indian allies. 

In June, of this year, Du Luth was at Lake Nepigon, making 
presents to the Indians, to prevent their trading with the 
English at Hudson's Bay, and while there, M. de la Croix, 
with two companions, arrived with dispatches from the Gov- 
ernor of Canada, and letters to be forwarded to the son of Gcxq- 
selliers stationed at Nelson River. In the month of July, by 
way of Green Bay, he came to Mackinaw, and from thence went 
to Canada, with Indian allies for the Iroquois war. 

On the 10th of September, 1684, having arrived at the 
Portage below the Teragon, he wrote to Gov. De la Barre: 
" As I was leaving lake Almepigon, I made in June, all the 
presents necessary to prevent the savages carrying their bea- 
vers to the English. 

" I nave met the Sieur de la Croix, with his two comrades 
who gave me your dispatches, where you tell me to omit 
nothing in forwarding your letter to the Sieur Chouart [Gro 



FORT AT LAKE NEPIGON". 819 

selliers' son], at Nelson River. To carry out your instruc- 
tions there was but Mons. Pere' [Perray] who will have to go, 
himself, the savages having all, at that time, withdrawn into 
the interior, to secure their blueberries. The said Mons. Pere' 
will have left in August. During the month of August he 
will have remitted your letter to the said Sieur Chouart. 

"It remains for me to assure you that all the savages of the 
North have great confidence in me, and this enables me to 
promise you that, before the lapse of two years, not a single 
savage will visit the English at Hudson's Bay. This they 
have all promised, and have bound themselves thereto by the 
, presents which I have given or caused to be given. 

u The Klistinos, the Assenipoulacs, the people from the 

Sapiniere, the , Dachiling, the Outouboulys and 

Tabitibis, which comprise all the nations to the west of the 
Northern Sea, have promised to be next spring at the fort 
which I have constructed near the River a la Maune, at the 
bottom of Lake Almepigon, and next summer I will construct 
one in the country of the Kilistinos, which will be an effectual 
barrier. Finally, sir, I wish to lose my life if I do not abso- 
lutely prevent the savages from visiting the English. * * * 
It is necessary, to cany out my promises, that my brother, in 
the early spring, should go up again, with two canoes loaded 
with powder, lead, fusils, hatchets, tobacco, and necessary 
presents." 

In the fall of 1684, Du Luth returned to the Lake Superior 
region, and Denonville, the Governor of Canada, the successor 
of De la Barre, under date of the 12th of November, 1685, wrote, 
" I likewise wrote to M. De la Durantaye, who is at Lake Supe- 
rior, under orders from M. De la Barre, and to Sieur Du Luth, 
who is also at a great distance in another direction, and all so 
far beyond reach that neither the one nor the other can have 
news from us this year. * * * In regard to Sieur Du Luth, 
I sent him orders to repair here, so that I may learn from him- 
self the number of savages on whom I may depend; he is ac- 
credited among them, and rendered great services to M. De la 
Barre, by a considerable number of savages he brought to 
Niagara." 



820 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

In the early autumn of 1686, English traders appeared in 
the waters of Lake Huron, and were captured by the French, 
and Duluth was sent to the narrows between Lake Huron and 
Lake Erie, to build the post Fort St. Joseph, as a barrier to 
New York traders. During the month of May, lb87, Henry 
Tonty, a cousin of Du Luth, arrived with allies from Illinois, 
near the site of the present city of Detroit, where he was soon 
joined by Du Luth and Durantaye, who came down from Fort 
St, Joseph, the site of the modern Fort Gratiot, with allies and 
also some English prisoners. From this point they journeyed 
together to Niagara, and on their way captured more English 
traders, under Major McGregory, from Albany. 

After participating in the battle with the Senecas, on the 
13th of July, near the site of the town of Victor, twenty miles 
southeast of Rochester, New York, preparations were begun 
for the return voyage. 

Late in 1686, the Governor of Canada wrote to DuLuth, 
4 " If you can so arrange your affairs that your brother can be 
near you, in the spring, I shall be very glad. He is an intelli- 
gent lad, and might be of great assistance to you; he might, 
also be very serviceable to us." 

This lad, Greysolon de la Tourette, reached Canada from the 
Northwest, after the conflict with the Senecas. Governor 
Denonville, on the 25th of August, wrote, " Du Luth's brother, 
who has recently arrived from the rivers above the Lake of the 
Allempigons [Nipegon], assures me that he saw more than 
fifteen hundred persons come to trade with him, and they were 
very sorry he had not goods sufficient to satisfy them. They 
are of the tribes accustomed to reporf to the English at Port 
Nelson and River Bourbon, where they say they did not go 
this year, through Sieur Du Lhu's influence." 

Upon Franquelin's map of 1688 (facing title page). Fort La 
Tourette is marked at the northeastern extremity of Lake 
Alepimigon. 

In September, DuLuth returned to Fort St. Joseph, and 
Lahontan appears to have been in charge of the soldiers who 
accompanied him. Lahontan, in one of his letters, writes, " I 
am to go along with M. Dulhut, a Lyons gentleman, and a 



DU LUTH AT FORT FRONTENAC. 821 

person of great merit, and has done his king and his country 
very considerable services. M. de Tonti makes another of our 
company." 

On the 14th of September, the fort was reached, which La- 
hontan describes as " built by Du Luth, and garrisoned at his 
own charges, by the coureurs des bois, who had taken care to 
sow some bushels of Turkey wheat." Du Luth did not remain 
at his fort, and he probably accompanied his cousin, Henry 
Tonty, to the Illinois country. Joutel, in his journal, men- 
tions that Tonty, on the 27th of October, 1687, returned with 
one of his cousins and some Frenchman from an expedition 
against the Iroquois. 

After Denonville evacuated Niagara, Fort St. Joseph, on the 
27th of August, 1688, was abandoned, and the buildings de- 
stroyed by fire. In 1693, Du Luth applied for a concession of 
Fort Kamanistigoya. A certificate still preserved among the 
French archives shows that he was iu favor of prohibiting the 
sale of intoxicating liquor to the Indians. It reads: " I certify- 
that at different periods, I have lived almost ten years among 
the Ottawa nation; from the time that I made an exploration 
to the Nadouecioux people, until Fort Saint Joseph was estab- 
lished by order of the Monsieur Marquis Denonville, Governor 
General, at the head of the Detroit of Lake Erie, which is in the 
Iroquois country, and which I had the honor to command. 

"During this period, I have seen that the trade in eaude vie 
(brandy) produced great disorders; the father killing the son, 
and the son throwing his mother into the fire; and I maintain 
that, morally speaking, it is impossible to export brandy to the 
woods and distant missions, without danger of its producing 
misery/' 

On the 19th of July, 1695, with forty men, he was placed in 
charge of Fort Frontenac, now Kingston, Canada, as the suc- 
cessor of Marquis Crisafy, deceased, and in about four weeks he 
erected a new building, one hundred and twenty feet in length, 
for officers' quarters, chapel, bakery, and store-rooms. While 
in command of this post, he thought he was perfectly cured 
of the gout by the intercession of a deceased Iroquois maiden, 
Saint Catharine. His statement upon this subject, dated the 



822 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



18th day of August, 1696. has already been printed upon the 
one hundred and forty -second page. But he had a relapse, 
as one writing from the post uses these words: u Every body 
was then in good health, except Captain Dulhut, the com- 
mander, who was unwell of the gout." The Governor of 
Canada, i - May 1, 1710, wrote to France, " Captain Du Lud 
died this winter." 



APPENDIX D. PAGE 127. 

notice of hennepin's writings. 

The first account of Ako and Hennepin's ascent of the 
Mississippi was written by La Salle in August, 1682, who must 
have obtained his information from Ako or Hennepin. It was 
first published in Paris, in 1877, in the 2d volume of the Mar- 
gry Documents. Among the differences in the narrative of 
Hennepin and La Salle are the following: 



HENNEPIN, A. D. 16S3. 

On the 11th of April, 1680, at two 
o'clock in the afternoon, we sud- 
denly perceived thirty - three bark 
canoes, manned by a hundred and 
twenty Indians. * * * These 
brutal men were leaping from their 
canoes, some on land, others into the 
water, with frightful cries and yells 
approached us, and as we made no 
resistance, * * * one of them 
wrenched a calumet from our hands. 
* * * These savages would not 
smoke our peace calumet. * * * 
Two head chiefs approaching showed 
us by signs that the warriors wished 
to tomakawk us. This compelled 
me to go to the war chiefs with one 
of my men, leaving the other by our 
property, and threw into their midst 



LA 8ALLE, A. D. 1682. 



Three o'clock. 



One hundred Indians. 

Michael Accault, who was the 
conductor, had the calumet present- 
ed to them. They received it and 
smoked, after having made a circle 
on land covered with straw, in which 
they made the Frenchmen sit. * 

* * * On landing, Michael Ac- 
tault made them a present of twenty 
knives and a fathom and a half of 
tobacco, which they accepted. * 

* * They then marched ten days 
together without showing any mark 
of discontent or ill will. 



HENNEPIN" AND LA SALLE COMPARED. 



823 



six axes, fifteen knives, and six fath- 
oms of tobacco, then bowing my 
head, I showed them, with an axe, 
that they might tomahawk us, if 
they thought proper. 

After five days' march by land, 
suffering hunger and outrages, 
marching all day long without rest, 
fording lakes and rivers, we descried 
a number of women and children 
coming to meet our little army. 

All the elders of this nation assem- 
bled on our account, and as we saw 
cabins and bundles of straw hanging 
from the posts of them, to which 
these savages bind those whom they 
take as slaves, and burn them, and 
seeing that they made the Picard du 
Gay sing, * * * we not unrea- 
sonably thought that they wished 
to kill us, as they performed many 
ceremonies usually practised when 
they intend to burn their enemies. 

The worst of it was, too, that not 

one of us three could make himself 

understood by these Indians. * * 

* * * On the 25th of July, 1680, 

we met the Sieur DuLuth, * * * 

as we had some knowledge of their 

language, they begged 
********* 

Having arrived, on the nineteenth 
day of our navigation, five leagues 
below the Falls of St. Anthony, these 
Indians landed us in a bay. 

On the 25th of July, 1680, we met 
the Sieur de Luth * * * as we 
had some knowledge of their lan- 
guage, they begged us to accom- 
pany them. 



They were well received there, and 
at first feasted Accault, who was in 
a different village from that in which 
the Rev. Father Louis and the 
Picard were, who were also well re- 
ceived, except that some wild young 
fellows having told the Picard to 
sing, the fear which he felt made 
him commit an act of cowardice, as 
it is only slaves who sing on reach- 
ing a village. 

Accault, who was not there could 
not prevent it, but they had sub- 
jected them to no treatment like 
that given to slaves. They were 
never tied, and payment was at once 
promised for what the young men 
had broken, because Accault having 
found some by whom he could make 
himself understood, made them feel 
the importance of doing so. * * 
* * * They were n0 {. t rea t e( j as 

slaves, and that DuLuth is wrong in 
boasting that he relieved them from 
bondage. 
********* 

When they were eight leagues 
below the Falls of St. Anthony, they 
resolved to go by land to their vil- 
lage. 

La Salle writes that Du Luth had 
an interpreter, named Faffart, once 
a soldier at Fort Frontenac, and 
that he had also a Sioux guide with 
him when he came down the Saint 
Croix. 

The discrepancies of Hennepin's account and that of Du 
Luth, both written in the same year, by comparison will be 
readily seen. 



824 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



hennepin's narrative. 

"On the 25th of July, 1680, as we 
were ascending the river Colbert, 
after the Buffalo hunt, to the Indian 
village, we met the Sieur de Luth, 
who came to the Nadouessious with 
five French soldiers. They joined 
us about two hundred and twenty 
leagues distant from the country of 
the Indians who had taken us. 

As we had some knowledge of their 
language, they begged us to accompany 
them to the villages of those tribes; 
to which I readily agreed, knowing 
that these Frenchmen had not ap- 
proached the sacraments for two 
years. The Siour De Luth, who 
acted as Captain, seeing me tired of 
tonsuring the children and bleeding 

thmatic old men to get a mouthful 
of meat, told the Indians that I was 
his elder brother, so that, having my 
subsistence secured, I labored only 
tor the salvation of these Indians. 
We arrived at the villages of the 
Issati, on the 14th of August, 1680." 



DU LUTH S NARRATIVE. 

Du Luth having reached the Miss- 
issippi by way of the Saint Croix, 
writes : 

"Being there, I learned from 
eight cabins of the Nadouecioux 
whom I met, that the Rev. Father 
Louis Hennepin, Recollect, now at 
the convent of St. Germain, with two 
other Frenchmen had been robbed 
and carried off as slaves for more 
than 300 leagues, by the Nadoue- 
cioux, themselves. 

"The intelligence surprised me 
so much, that without hesitating, I 
left two Frenchmen with these said 
eight cabins of Indians, as well as 
the goods I had to make presents, 
and took one of the said Indians to 
guide me, with my interpreter, and 
two Frenchmen, to where the said 
Reverend Father Louis was, and as 
it was a good 80 leagues, I proceed- 
ed in canoe two days and two nights, 
and on the next day at ten o'clock 
in the morning. I found him with 
about 1000 or 1100 souls. 

"The want of respect which they 
showed to the said Reverend Father 
provoked me; and this I showed them r 
telling them that he was my brother y 
and I had him placed in my canoe, to- 
come with me into the villages of the 
said Nadouecioux, whither I took 
him." 



The full title of Hennepin's first book was, " Description de 
la Louisiane, Nouvellement Decouverte au Sud 'Ouest de la 
Nouvelle France, par ordre du Roy. 

" Avec La Carte du Pays; les moeurs and la maniere de vivre 
des Sauvages. 

" Dediee a sa Majeste, par le R. P. Louis Hennepin, Mis- 
sionaire Recollect & Notaire Apostolique. 



FRENCH WRITERS. 825 

" A Paris, Chez la veuve Sebastian Hure ; rue Saint Jacques, 
a rimage S. Jerome, pres S. Severin. M. DO. LXXXIII. 
Avec privilege du Roy." 

In the dedication of his book to Louis the Fourteenth, he 
writes, " We have given the name of Louisiana to this great 
discovery." Documents, however, prepared before the book 
was printed, call the region " Louisiana." On the map accom- 
panying his first book, he boldly marks a Recollect mission 
many miles north of the point he had visited. In the Utrecht 
edition of 1697, this deliberate fraud is erased. 

Chagrined that this book was not considered trustworthy 
by some, he wrote the following to the Abbe Renau dot, "at 
his house in Paris:" " Sir; You know that I gave to you the 
first intelligence of our discovery, at my arrival, and made you 
aware of the troubles I had endured for four years. Never- 
theless, I perceive that M. l'Abbe Bernou has not acted as he 
should. He will know in time and eternity, the sincerity of 
my intentions, and yon will one day see that I am, in all pos- 
sible respect, the most humble and devoted of your servants. 

F. LOUIS HENNEPIN, 
Pauvre esclave des barbars." 

Tronson, an ecclesiastic of high character in Paris, wrote on 
March 13th, 1683, to Abbe Belmont, of Montreal, relative to 
Hennepin's book, which had just been published: " I have 
interviewed the P. Recollect, who pretends to have descended 
the Mississippi river to the Gulf of Mexico. I do not know 
that one will believe what he speaks any more than that which 
is in the printed relation of the P. Louis, which I send you 
that you may make your own reflections." Abbe Bernou, on 
the 29th of February, 1684. writes from Rome about the 
"paltry book" (meschant livre) of Father Hennepin: 

"nouvelle decouverte," a. d. 1697. 

The second work of Hennepin, an enlargement of the first, 
appeared in Utrecht in the year 1697, ten years after LaSalle's 
death. Its full title reads: " Nouvelle Decouverte d'un tres 
Grand Pays, situe dans TAmerique, entre le Nouveau Mexique, 



826 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

et la Mer Glaciale, Avec les cartes et les figures necessaries et 
de plus l'Histoire Naturelle et Morale, et les avantages qu' on 
en puet tirer par l'etablissement des colonies. 

u Le tout dedie a la Majestie Guillaume III. par le R. P. 
Louis Hennepin, Missionaire Recollect et Notaire Apostol- 
ique. A Utrecht; Chez Guillaume Broedelet, Marchand 
Libraire. MDCXCVII." 

During the interval between the publication of the first and 
second book, he had passed three years as Superintendent of 
the Recollects at Reny, in the province of Artois, when Father 
Hyacinth Lefevre, a friend of La Salle, and Commissary Pro- 
vincial of Recollects at Paris, wished him to return to Canada. 
He refused, and was ordered to go to Rome, and upon his 
coming back, was sent to a convent at St. Omer, and there 
received a dispatch from the Minister of State in France, to 
return to the countries of the king of Spain, of which he was 
a subject. This order he asserts he afterwards learned was 
forged. 

In the prefaee to the English edition of the New Discovery, 
published in 1698, in London, he writes: 

" The pretended reasons of that violent order, was because 
I refused to return into America, where 1 had been already 
eleven years, though the particular laws of our Order oblige 
none of us to go beyond sea against his will. I would have, 
however, returned very willingly, had I not sufficiently known 
the malice of M. La Salle, who would have exposed me to make 
me perish, as he did one of the men who accompanied me in 
my discovery. God knows that I am sorry for his unfortunate 
death ; but the judgments of the Almighty are always just, 
for the gentleman was killed by one of his own men, who 
were at last sensible that he exposed them to visible dangers 
without any necessity and for his private designs." 

After this he was for about five years at Gosselies, in Bra- 
bant, as Confessor in a convent, and from thence removed to 
his native place, Ath, in Belgium, where, according to his 
narrative in the preface to the " Nouveau Decouverte," he was 
again persecuted. Then Father Payez, Grand Commissary of 
Recollects at Louvain, being informed that the King of Spain 



FRENCH WRITERS. 827 

and the Elector of Bavaria reconmiended the step, consented 
that he should enter the service of William the Third of Great 
Britain, who had been very kind to the Roman Catholics of 
Netherlands. 

By order of Payez he was sent to Antwerp to take the lay 
habit in the convent there, and subsequently went to Utrecht, 
where he finished his second book known as the " New Dis- 
covery." 

His first volume, printed in 1683, contains 312 pages, with 
an appendix of 107 pages, on the Customs of the Savages, while 
the Utrecht book, of 1697, contains 509 pages, without an 
appendix. 

In the first chapter of this work, Hennepin writes, that on 
his way to Canada, near Rochelle, he acted as curate, '* being 
invited so to do by the pastor of the place, who had occasion 
to be absent from his charge.'" 

Some have thought that no one who was a priest of the 
Church of Rome, would have used the word "pasteur," but 
these forget that in the days of Archbishop Fenelon, who lived 
at this period, a priest of the Church of Rome was sometimes 
called a "pasteur." In this chapter there is a sentence which, 
however, needs correction. It alleges that while Hennepin 
was in Canada, " Abbe Fenelon, present Archbishop of Cam- 
bray, resided there/' It is true that Francis de Salignac de la 
Motte Fenelon was a priest in Canada when Hennepin was 
there, but, with the same name, he was only the half-brother 
of Francis de Salignac de la Motte Fenelon, the celebrated 
Archbishop of Cambray. Living beyond France, in a time of 
war, Hennepin could easily have made the mistake, as the 
priest he had known in Canada had returned to France. 

On page 249 of the " New Discovery/' he begins an account 
of a voyage alleged to have been made to the mouth of the 
Mississippi, and occupies over sixty pages in the narrative. 
The opening sentences give as a reason for concealing to that 
time his discovery, that La Salle would have reported him to 
his superiors for presuming to go down instead of ascending 
the stream toward the north, as had been agreed, and that the 
two with him threatened that if he did not consent to deseend 



828 HISTORY OE MINNESOTA. 

the river, they would leave him on shore, during the night, 
and pursue their own course. 

He asserts that he left the Gulf of Mexico, to return, on the 
1st of April, and on the 24th left the Arkansas; but a week 
after this he declares that he landed with the Sioux at the 
marsh a few miles below the city of Saint Paul. 

The account has been and is still a puzzle to the historical 
student. In our review of his first book we have noticed that 
as early as 1683, he claimed to have descended the Mississippi. 
In the Utrecht publication he declares that while at Quebec, 
upon his return to France, he gave to Father Valentine Roux, 
Commissary of Recollects, his journal, upon the promise that 
it would be kept secret, and that tbis Father made a copy of 
his whole voyage, including the visit to the Gulf of Mexico; 
but in his Description of Louisiana, Hennepin wrote, " We had 
some design of going to the mouth of the river Colbert, which 
more probably empties into the Gulf of Mexico than into the 
Red Sea, but the tribes that siezed us gave us no time to sail 
up and down the river." 

DU LUTH AND HENNEPIN - . 

The additions in the Utrecht book to magnify his impor- 
tance and detract from others, are many. As Sparks and 
Parkman have pointed out the plagiarisms of this edition, a 
reference here is unnecessary. 

Du Luth, who left Quebec in 1678, and had been in northern 
Minnesota with an interpreter for a year, after he met Ako and 
Hennepin, becomes of secondary importance in the eyes of the 
Franciscan. 

In the Description of Louisiana, on page 289, Hennepin 
speaks of passing the Falls of St. Anthony, upon his return to 
Canada, in these few words: "Two of our men seized two 
beaver robes at the Falls of St. Anthony of Padua, which the 
Indians had in sacrifice fastened to trees." But in the Utrecht 
edition, commencing on page 416, there is much added con- 
cerning Du Luth. After using the language of the editio i of 
1683, already quoted, it adds: " Hereupon there arose a dispute 



FRENCH WRITERS. 829 

between the Sieur du Luth and myself. I commended what 
they had done, saying, 4 The savages might judge by it that 
they disliked the superstition of these people/ " 

The Sieur du Luth, on the contrary, said that they ought 
to have left the robes where the savages placed them, for they 
would not fail to avenge the insult we had put upon them by 
this action, and that it was to be feared they would attack us 
on the journey. 

" I confessed he had some foundation for what he said, and 
that he spoke according to the rules of prudence. But one of 
the two men flatly replied that the two robes suited them, and 
they cared nothing for the savages and their superstitions. 

u The Sieur du Luth, at these words, was so greatly enraged 
that he nearly struck the one who uttered them ; but I inter- 
vened and settled the dispute. The Picard and Michel Ako 
ranged themselves on the side of those who had taken the 
robes in question, which might have resulted badly. 

" I argued with the Sieur du Luth that the savages would 
not attack us, because I was persuaded that their great chief, 
Ouasicoude, would have our interests at heart, and he had 
great credit with his nation. The matter terminated pleas- 
antly. 

11 When we arrived near the river Ouisconsin, we halted to 
smoke the meat of the buffalo we had killed on our journey. 
During our stay three savages of the nation we had left came 
by the side of our canoe to tell us that their great chief, Ouasi- 
coude, having learned that another chief of these people wished 
to pursue and kill us, entered the cabin where he was con- 
sulting, and had struck him on the head with such violence as 
to scatter his brains upon his associates, thus preventing the 
execution of this injurious project. 

" We regaled the three savages, having a great abundance 
of food at that time. The Sieur du Luth, after the savages 
had left, was as enraged as before, and feared that they would 
pursue us and atta2k us on our voyage. He would have pushed 
the matter further, but seeing that one man would resist, and 
was not in the humor to be imposed upon, he moderated, and 
I appeased them in the end with the assurance that God would 



830 HISTOEY OF MINNESOTA. 

not abandon us in distress, and. provided we confided in Him, 
he would deliver us from our foes, because he is the protector 
of men and angels." 
* ******** 

After describing a conference with the Sioux, he adds : "Thus 
the savages were very kind, without mentioning the beaver 
robes. The chief Ouasicoude told me to offer a fathom of Mar- 
tinico tobacco to the chief Aquipaguetin, who had adopted me 
as his son. This had an admirable effect upon the barbarians, 
who went off shouting several times the word Louis,* which, 
as he said, means the sun. Without vanity, I must say that 
my name will be for a long time among these people. 

" The savages having left us to go to war against the Mes- 
sorites, the Maroha, the Illinois, and other nations which live 
toward the lower part of the Mississippi, and are irreconcilable 
foes of the people of the North, the Sieur duLuth, who upon 
many occasions gave me marks of his friendship, could not 
forbear to tell our men that I had all the reason in the world 
to believe that the Vice Roy of Canada would give me a favor- 
able, reception, should we arrive before winter, and that, he 
wished with all his heart that he had been among as many 
natives as myself." 

The style of Louis Hennepin is unmistakable in this extract, 
and it is amusing to read his patronage of one of the fearless 
explorers of the Northwest, a cousin of Tonty, favored by 
Frontenac, and who was in Minnesota a year before his arrival. 



In the second volume of his last book, which is called " A 
Continuance of the New Discovery of a Vast Country in 
America," etc., he noticed some criticisms. 

To the objection that his work was dedicated to William 

*The Sioux/or Dakotahs, call the sun by a word which a Frenchman would 
write, "oui," pronounced, "wo." 

The Daitotah Lexicon, published by the Smithsonian Institution, writes the 
word for sun "wi," pronounced, "we." The moon the Sioux call the night-sun, 
"Hanyetu Wi." 



Hennepin's discrepancies. 831 

the Third of Great Britain, he replies: " My King, his most 
Catholic Majesty, his Electoral Highness of Bavaria, the con- 
sent in writing of the superiors of my Order, the integrity of 
my faith, and the regular observance of my vows, which his 
Britannic Majesty allows me, are the best warrants of the 
uprightness of ruy intentions/' 

To the query, how he could travel so far upon the Mississ- 
ippi in so little time, he answers with a bold face, " That we 
may with a canoe and a pair of oars go twenty, twenty-five, or 
thirty leagues every day. and more too, if there be occasion. 
And though we had gone but ten leagues a day, yet in thirty 
days we might easily have gone three hundred leagues. If 
during the time we spent from the River of the Illinois to the 
mouth of the Meschasipi, in the Gulf of Mexico, we had used 
a little more haste, we might have gone the same twice over." 

To the objection that he said that he had passed eleven years 
in America when he had been there but about four, he evasively 
replies, that ''reckoning from the year 1671, when I first set 
out, to the year 16SS, when I printed the second edition of my 
Louisiana, it appears that I have spent fifteen years either in 
travels or printing my Discoveries." 

To those who objected to the statement in his first book, in 
the dedication to Louis the Fourteenth, that the Sioux always 
call the sun "Louis," he writes: "I repeat what I have said 
before, that being among the Issati and Nadouessans, by 
whom I was made a slave in America, I never heard them call 
the sun any other than ' Louis/ It is true these savages call 
also the moon ' Louis,' but with this distinction, that they give 
the moon the name of l Louis Basatche,' which in their lan- 
guage signifies, " the sun that shines in the night/ " 



832 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

APPENDIX E. PAGE 139. 

NTCOIAS PERROT, FOUNDER OF FIRST FORT ON UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

With the aid of the tracing from Franquelin's map, of 1688, 
the first engraving of which is found in this history, it is pos- 
sible to give a more accurate description of Perrot's visits to 
the Upper Mississippi. The winter of 1685-86 was not spent, 
as has been supposed, at the lower end of Lake Pepin, but the 
map shows that their encampment was on the east side of the 
Mississippi, and above the Black River. La Potherie says they 
found a spot which was wooded, which was suitable for the 
establishment of a fort. It was at the foot of a mountain, in 
the rear of which there was a large prairie. The bluff was, 
probably, the " Montague Trempe l'eau," which Major Long^ 
in 1817, estimated at eight miles above the upper mouth of 
Black River. He speaks of u high bluff lands at this point, 
tower into precipices and peaks, completely insulated from 
the main bluffs by a broad, flat prairie." 

Subsequently he established another post just above the 
mouth of Lake Pepin, on the Wisconsin side, which Franquelin 
in his map calls Fort St. Antoine, and here, in May, 1689, the 
Proces Verbal was duly signed. The same map shows Perrot's 
post on the site of Prairie du Chien, called for his baptismal 
saint, Fort St. Nicolas, 

The following memoir of Perrot is based upon La Potherie, 
Margry, and his own work, edited by Taithan, and in 1874, 
published at Paris and Leipsic. 

Nicolas Perrot, sometimes written Pere, was one of the most 
energetic of the class in Canada known as "coureurs des bois," 
or forest rangers. Born in 1644, at an early age he was identi- 
fied with the fur trade of the great inland lakes. As early as 
1665, he was among the Outagamies [Foxes], and in 1667 was 
at Green Bay. In 1669 he was appointed bj^ Talon to go to 
the lake region in search of copper mines. In October, 1670, 
he left Montreal and wintered near Green Bay. On the 5th 
of May, 1671, he went with Indians to the great council at 
Sault St. Marie, and there, at the formal taking possession of 
that country in the name of the King of France, on the 14th 



of May, 1671, he acted as interpreter. In 1677, he seems to 
have been employed at Fort Frontenac. La Salle was made 
very sick the next year, from eating a salad, and one Nicolas 
Perrot, called Joly Coeur (Jolly Soul) was suspected of having 
mingled poison with the food. When Da Luth, on his way 
to Mackinaw, in the summer of J 684, stopped at Green Bay, 
Perrot was there. In the spring of 1685, he was appointed 
by De la Barre the Governor of Canada, Commandant for the 
West, and left Montreal with twenty men. Arriving at Green 
Bay in Wisconsin, some Indians told him that they had vis- 
ited countries toward the setting sun where they obtained the 
blue and green stones suspended from their ears and noses, 
and tba u they saw horses and men like Frenchmen ; probably 
the Spaniards of New Mexico. And others said that they 
had obtained hatchers from persons who lived in a house that 
walked on the water, near the mouth of the river of the Assi- 
niboines; alluding to the English established at Hudson's 
Bay. Proceeding to the portage between the Fox and Wis- 
consin, thirteen Hurons were met, who were bitterly opposed 
to the establishment of a post near the Sioux. After the 
Mississippi was reached, a party of Winnebagoes was em- 
ployed to notify the tribes of Northern Iowa that the French 
had ascended tho river, and wished to meet them. It was 
further agreed that prairie fires would be kindled from time 
to time, so that the Indians could follow the French. 

Above the Black River, as has been mentioned, he wintered, 
and in the spring of 1686, he probably erected Fort St. Antoine, 
on Lake Pepin. Penicaut, who, in 1700, in company with 
LeSueur, visited the Upper Mississippi, in writing of Lake 
Pepin, uses these words: u To the right and left of its shores 
there are also prairies. In that on the ri^ht, on the bank of 
the lake, there is a fort, which was built by Nicholas Perrot, 
whose name it yet [1700] bears." 

Soon after he established his first encampment, it was an- 
nounced that a band of Aiouez [Ioways] was encamped about 
twenty-five miles above, and on the way to visit the post. 
The French ascended in canoes to meet them, but as they drew 
nisrb. the Indian women ran up the bluffs, and hid in the 



I 

834 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

woods; but twenty of the braves mustered courage to advance 
and greet Perrot, and bore him to the chief's lodge. The 
chief, bending over Perrot, began to weep, and allowed the 
moisture to fall upon his visitor. After he had exhausted 
himself, the principal men of the party repeated the slabbering 
process. Then buffalo tongues were boiled in an earthen 
pot, and after being cut into small pieces, the chief took a 
piece, and, as a mark of respect, placed it in Perrot's mouth. 

During the winter of 1685-86, the French traded in Min- 
nesota. 

At the end of the beaver hunt the Ayoes [Ioways] came to 
the post, but Perrot was absent visiting the Nadouassioux, 
and they sent a chief to notify him of their arrival. Pour 
Illinois met him on the way, and were anxious for the return 
of four children held by the French. When the Sioux, who 
were at war with the Illinois, perceived them, they wished to 
seize their canoes, but the French voyageurs who were guard- 
ing them, pushed into the middle of the river, and the French 
at the post coming to their assistance, a reconciliation was 
effected, and four of the Sioux took the Illinois upon their 
shoulders and bore them to the shore. 

An order having been received from Denonville, Governor of 
Canada, to bring the Mi amis, and other tribes, to the rendez- 
vous at Niagara, to go on an expedition against the Senecas, 
Perrot, entrusting the post at Lake Pepin to a few Frenchmen, 
visited the Miamis, who were dwelling below on the Mississ- 
ippi, and with no guide but Indian camp fires, went sixty 
miles into the country beyond the river. 

Upon his return, he perceived a great smoke, and at first 
thought that it was a war party proceeding to the Sioux 
country. Fortunately he met a Maskouten chief, who had 
been at the post to see him, and he gave the intelligence, that 
the Outagamies [Foxes], Kikapous | Kickapoos], Mascoutechs 
[Mascoutens], and others, from the region of Green Bay, had 
determined to pillage the post, kill the French, and then go 
to war against the Sioux. Hurrying on, he reached the fort, 
and learned that on that very day three spies had been there 
and seen that there were only six Frenchmen in charge. 



perrot's ruse. 835 

The next day two more spies appeared, but Perrot had taken 
the precaution to put loaded guns at the door of each hut, and 
caused his men frequently to change their clothes. To the 
query, " How many French were there?" the reply was given, 
11 Forty, and that more were daily expected, who had been on 
a buffalo hunt, and that the guus were well loaded and knives 
well sharpened." They were then told to go back to their 
camp, and bring a chief of each nation represented, and that 
if Indians in large numbers came near, they would be fired at. 
In accordance with this message six chiefs presented them- 
selves. After their bows and arrows were taken away they 
were invited to Perrot's cabin, who gave something to eat and 
tobacco to smoke. Looking at Perrot's loaded guns, they 
asked if he was afraid of his children. He replied, he was not. 
They continued, " You are displeased." He answered, " I have 
good reason to be. The Spirit has warned me of your designs. 
You will take my things away, and put me in the kettle, and 
proceed against the Nadouaissioux. The Spirit told me to be 
on my guard, and he would help me." At this they were 
astonished, and confessed that an attack was meditated. That 
night the chiefs slept in the stockade, and early the next morn- 
ing a part of the hostile force was encamped in the vicinity, 
and wished to trade. Perrot had now only a force of fifteen 
men, and seizing the chiefs, he told them he would break their 
heads if they did not disperse the Indians. One of the chiefs 
then stood up on the gate of the fort, and said to the warriors, 
" Do not advance, young men, or you are dead. The Spirit has 
warned Metaminens [Perrot] of your designs/' They followed 
the advice, and afterwards Perrot presented them with two 
guns, two kettles, and some tobacco, to close the door of war 
against the Nadouaissioux, and the chiefs were all permitted 
to make a brief visit to the post. 

Returning to Green Bay in 1686, he passed much time in 
collecting allies for the expedition against the Iroquois in New 
York. During this year he gave to the Jesuit chapel at De- 
pere, five miles above Green Bay a church utensil of silver, 
fifteen inches high, still in existence. The standard, nine 
inches in height, supports a radiated circlet closed with glass 



836 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

on both sides, and surmounted with a cross. This vessel, 
weighing about twenty ounces, was intended to show the con- 
secrated wafer of the mass, and is called a soleil, monstrance, 
or ostensorium. Around the oval base of the rim is the fol- 
lowing inscription: 



..0 






y "% 



&' 



9> 



***** < ^° 



& 



^ 



Prof. J. D. Butler, in the eighth volume of the Wisconsin 
Historical Society Collections has given a full account of this 
soleil. 

In 1802,osome workman in digging at Green Bay, Wisconsin, 
on the old Langlade estate, discovered this relic, which is now 
k^pt in the vault of the Roman Catholic bishop of that diocese. 

During the spring of 1687, Perrot, with DuLuth and Tonty. 
was with the Indian allies and the French in the expedition 
against the Senecas of the Genessee Valley in New York. 

Afterwards Denonville, Governor of Canada, again sent 
Perrot, with forty Frenchmen, to the Sioux, who, says Poth- 
erie, "were very distant, and who would not trade with us as 
easily as the other tribes, the Outagamis [Foxes] having boasted 
of having cut off the passage thereto." 

Arriving at the portage be ween the Fox and Wisconsin 
rivers, they were impeded by ice, but with the aid of some 
Pottawattomies they transported their goods to the Wisconsin 
which they found no longer frozen. The Chippeways were 
informed that their daughters had been taken from the Foxes, 
aud a deputation came to take them back, but being attacked 
by the Foxes, who did not know their errand, they fled with- 



PERROT ASCENDS THE MISSISSIPPI. 837 

out securing the three girls. Perrot then ascended the Mis- 
sissippi. 

As soon as the rivers were navigable, the Nadouaissioux 
came down and escorted Perrot to one of their villages, where 
he was welcomed with much enthusiasm. He was carried 
upon a beaver robe, followed by a long line of warriors, each 
bearing a pipe, and singing. After taking him around the 
village, he was borne to the chief's lodge; when several came 
in to weep over his head, with the same tenderness that the 
Ayoes [Ioways] did when Perrot several years before arrived 
at Lake Pepin. " These weepings," says an old chronicler? 
"do not weaken their souls. They are very good warriors, 
and reported the bravest in that region. They are at war with 
all the tribes at present except the Saulteurs [Chippeways] 
and Ayoes | Ioways], and even with these they have quarrels. 
At the break of day the Nadouaissioux bathe, even to the 
youngest. They have very fine forms, but the women are not 
comely, and they look upon them as slaves. They are jealous 
and suspicious about them, and they are the cause of quarrels 
and blood-shedding. 

" The Sioux are very dextrous with their canoes, and they 
fight unto death if surrounded. Their country is full of 
swamps, which shelter them in summer from being molested 
One must be a Nadouassioux to find the way to their villages." 

While Perrot was absent in New York, fighting the Sene- 
cas, a Sioux chief knowing that few Frenchmen were left at 
Lake Pepin, came with one hundred warriors, and endeavored 
to pillage it. Of this complaint was made, and the guilty 
leader was near being put to death by his associates. Amicable 
relations having been formed, preparations were made by Per- 
rot to return to his post. As they were going away, one of 
the Frenchmen complained that a box of his goods had been 
stolen. Perrot ordered a voyageur to bring a cup of water, 
and into it he poured some brandy. He then addressed the 
Indians and told them he would dry up their marshes if the 
goods were not restored, and then ne set on fire the brandy in 
the cup. The savages were astonished and terrified, and sup- 
posed that he possessed supernatural powers; and in a little 



838 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

while the goods were found, and restored to the owner, and 
the French descended to their stockade. 

The Foxes, while Perrot was in the Sioux country, changed 
their village and settled on the Mississippi. Coming up to 
visit Perrot, they asked him to establish friendly relations 
between them and the Sioux, At the time some Sioux were 
at the post trading furs, and at first they supposed the French 
were plotting with the Foxes. Perrot, however, eased them 
by presenting the calumet, and saying that the French con- 
sidered the Outagamis [FoxesJ as brothers, and then adding, 
''Smoke in my pipe; this is the manner with which Onontio 
[Governor of Canada] feeds his children." The Sioux replied 
that they wished the Foxes to smoke first. This was reluc- 
tantly done, and the Sioux smoked, but would not conclude a 
definite peace until they consulted their chiefs. This was not 
concluded, because Perrot, before the chiefs came down, re- 
ceived orders to return to Canada. 

About this time, at the post St. Antoine, in the presence of 
Father Joseph James Marest, a Jesuit missionary; Boisguillot, 
a trader on the Wisconsin and Mississippi; Le Sueur, who 
afterward built a post below the St. Croix River, about nine 
miles from Hastings, the document was prepared taking formal 
possession of the country, which is printed upon the one hun- 
dred and forty-third page. 

On the 22d of May, 1690, with one hundred and forty-three 
voyageurs and six Indians, Perrot left Montreal as an escort 
of Sieur de Louvigny La Porte, a half-pay captain appointed 
to succeed Durantaye at Mackinaw, by Frontenac, the new 
Governor of Canada, who, in October of the previous year, had 
arrived to take the place of Denonville. 

Perrot, as he approached Mackinaw, went in advance to 
notify the French of the coming of the commander of the 
post. As he came in sight of the settlement he hoisted the 
white flag, with the fleur de lis, and the voyageurs shouted, 
"Long live the king! 1 ' Louvigny soon appeared and was re- 
ceived by one hundred u coureurs des bois" under arms. 

From Mackinaw, Perrot proceeded to Green Bay, and a 
party of Miamis there, begged him to make a trading estab- 



PENICAUT DESCRIBES LEAD MIKES. 839 

lishrnent on the Mississippi, towards the Ouiskonsing [Wis- 
consin]. The chief mad^ him a present of a piece of lead from 
amine which he had found in a small stream which flows into 
the Mississippi. Per rot promised to visit him within twenty 
days, and the chief then returned to his village below the 
d'Ouiskonche [Wisconsin] River. In accordance with his 
promise, he visited the lead mines, and found the ore abundant 
u but the lead hard to work, because it lay between rocks 
which required blowing up. It had very little dross and was 
easily melted." 

Penicaut, who ascended the Mississippi in 1700, wrote that 
twenty leagues below the Wisconsin, on both sides of the 
Mississippi, were mines of lead called " Nicolas PerrotV" 
Early French maps indicate as the locality of lead mines, the 
site of modern towns, Galena, in Illinois, and Dubuque, in 
Iowa. 

In August, 1693, about two hundred Frenchmen, from 
Mackinaw, with delegates from the tribes of the West, arrived 
at Montreal, to attend a grand council called by Governor 
Frontenac, and among these was Perrot. 

On the first Sunday in September the Governor gave the 
Indians a great feast, after which they and the traders began 
to return to the wilderness. Perrot was ordered by Frontenac 
to establish a new post for the Miamis in Michigan, in the 
neighborhood of the Kalamazoo River. 

Two years later he is present again, in August, at a council 
in Montreal; then returned to the West, and in 1699 is recalled 
from Green Bay. In 1701 he was at Montreal, acting as in- 
terpreter, and appears to have died before 1718. His wife was 
Madeline Raclos, and his residence was in the Seigneury of 
Becancourt, not far from Three Rivers, on the St. Lawrence. 



840 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

APPENDIX F. PAGE 142. 



La Hontan, a Gascon by birth and in style of writing, when 
about seventeen years of age arrived in Canada, in 1683, as a 
private soldier, and was with Governor De la Barre in his ex- 
pedition of 1684 toward Niagara, and was also in the battle 
near Rochester, New York, in Jaly, 1687, at which Du Luth 
and Perrot, explorers of Minnesota, were present. 

He was one of the soldiers who, on the 14th of September, 
came to Fort St. Joseph at the narrows below Lake Huron, as 
an escort of DuLuth and his cousin, Henry Tonty. During 
the winter he appears to have remained as one oi a small gar- 
rison at this post, but on the 1st of April, 1688, provisions 
being scarce, he left, and on the 18th arrived at Mackinaw 
and was there in May, when the brother of LaSalle and Father 
Anastase, the Recollect, arrived from Texas, by way of Fort 
St. Louis, in the Illinois region. On the 1st of July he re- 
turned to Fort St. Joseph, and made a trip to Niagara, and on 
the 24th of August came back once more to the fort, which, 
three days after, was destroyed by order of the Governor of 
Canada. On the 15th of September he had again reached 
Mackinaw, and on the 24th, he alleges, he started on a voyage 
to the Mississippi, which he reached on the 23d of October, 
1688. It is possible he may have been one of Perrot's men, 
who came into the country about that time, on a second visit 
to Lake Pepin. In 1703, his " Travels" appeared both at Lon- 
don and at The Hague, and his wonderful story as to the 
discovery of the Long River, which is appended to this article, 
was for a time believed, and geographers hastened to place it 
upon their maps. But in time the voyage up the Long River 
was discovered to be a fabrication. There is extant a letter of 
Bobe, a priest of the Congregation of the Mission, dated Ver- 
sailles, March 15, 1716, and addressed to De L'Isle, the Geo- 
grapher of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, which exposes 
the deception. He writes: 

"It seems to me that you might give the name Bourbonia 
to these vast countries which are between the Missouri, Miss- 



LA HON TANS FABRICATION". 841 

issippi and the Western Ocean. Would it not be well to 
efface that great river which La Hontan says he discovered ? 
All the Canadians, and even the Governor General, have told 
me that this river is unknown. If it existed, the French who 
are on the Illinois and at Ouabache, would know of it. The 
last volume of the ' Lettres Edifiantes 1 of the Jesuits, in which 
there is a very fine relation of the Illinois Country, does not 
speak of it, any more than the letters which I received this 
year, which tell wonders of the beauty and goodness of the 
country. They send me some quite pretty work made by the 
wife of one of the principal chiefs. 

14 They tell me that among the Scioux of the Mississippi, 
here are always Frenchmen trading; that the course of the 
Mississippi is from north to west, and from west to south 
that it is known that toward the source of the Mississippi 
there is a river in the highlands that leads to the Western 
Ocean; that the Indians say that they have seen bearded men 
witn caps, who gather gold dust on the seashore, but that it 
is very far from this country, and that they pass through 
many nations unknown to the French. 

" I have a memoir of La Motte Cadillac, formerly Governor 
of Missilimackinack, who says that if St. Peters [Minnesota] 
River is ascended to its source, they will, according to all ap- 
pearance, find in the highlands another river leading to the 
Western Ocean. 

" For the last two years I have tormented exceedingly the 
Governor -General, M. Raudot, and M. Duche, to move them 
to discover this ocean. If I succeed, as I hope, we shall hear 
tidings before three years, and I shall have the pleasure and 
the consolation of having rendered a good service to geography, 
to religion and to the state. 1 '' 

Charlevoix, in his History of New France, alluding to La 
Hontan's voyage, writes: " The voyage up the Long River is 
as fabulous as the island of Barrataria, of which Sancho Panza 
was governor. Nevertheless, in France, and elsewhere, most 
people have received these memoirs as the fruits of the travels 
of a gentleman, who wrote badly although quite lightly, and 
who had no religion, but who described sincerely what he had 



842 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

seen. The consequence is, that the compilers of historical 
and geographical dictionaries have almost always followed and 
cited them in preference to more faithful records." 

Even in modern times, Nicollet, employed by the United 
States to explore the Upper Mississippi, has the following in 
his report: 

" Having procured a copy of La Hontan's book, in which 
there is a roughly made map of his Long River, I was struck 
with the resemblance of its course, as laid down, with that of 
Cannon River, which I had previously sketched in my own 
field-book. I soon convinced myself that the principal state- 
ments of the Baron in reference to the country, and the few 
details he gives of the physical character of the river, coincide 
remarkably with what I had laid down as belonging to Can_ 
non River. Then the lakes and swamps corresponded. Traces 
of Indian villages mentioned by him, might be found by a 
growth of wild grass that propagates itself around all old 
Indian settlements." 

LONG RIVER DESCRIBED. 

The abstract of La Hontan's description of Long Riyer will 
show the reader that it is a work of the imagination. 

On the 23d of October, 1688, he writes that he camped upon 
an island in the Mississippi opposite the Wisconsin River. 
Ascending the Mississippi, he alleges that on the 3d of No- 
vember, he u entered the mouth of the Long River, which looks 
like a lake full of bulrushes." 

La Hontan writes: "About ten o'clock next morning, the 
river became pretty narrow, and the shore was covered with 
lofty trees." On the 8th, about two in the afternoon, they 
descried some huts of the Eokoros Indians, a quarter of a 
league from the river. The next day he ascended the stream 
to the chief village of this tribe. On the 12th he departed and 
ascended the stream. At length he came to the last village of 
the Eokoros, where he was informed that the Essanapes were 
sixty leagues above, which they reached on the 27th of the 
month, and were received with acclamation, and on the 3d of 



la hontan's voyage. 843 

December he had pushed on to the chief village of the Essa- 
napes. The chief here agreed to give him an escort to the 
Guacsitares, and on the 19th of December his canoes arrived 
in sight of the Guacsitares, and he and his men were supposed 
to be Spaniards from New Mexico. 

On the 9th of January La Houtan writes: " The cacique 
came to see me, and brought with him four hundred of his 
own subjects and four Mozemleek savages, whom I took for 
Spaniards. My mistake was occasioned by the great differ- 
ence between these two American nations. The Mozemleek 
savages were clothed, they had a thick bushy beard, and their 
hair hung down under their ears, their complexion was 
swarthy. * * * The Mozemleek nation is numerous and 
powerful. The four slaves of that country informed me, that 
at the distance of 150 leagues from the place where I then was, 
their principal river empties itself into a great salt lake of 
three hundred leagues in circumference, the mouth of which 
is about two leagues broad; that the lower part of the river is 
adorned with six noble cities surrounded with stone cemented 
with fat earth; * * * that the people made stuffs, copper 
axes, and several other manufactures. * * * One of the 
four Mozemleek slaves had a reddish sort of a copper medal 
banging about bis neck. I had it melted by M. De Ponti's 
gunsmith, who understood something of metals, but it became 
thereupon heavier, deeper colored, and withal somewhat tract- 
able. I desired the slaves to give me a circumstantial account 
of these med°Js, and they gave me to understand that they 
are made by the Tahuglak, who are excellent artisans. 

On the 26th of January be began his return voyage, and 
"had much pleasure in sailing down that river/' If La Hontan 
were not a liar, the climate of Minnesota in January has greatly 
changed. On the 2d of March, 1689, he reached the Mississippi. 



84:4 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

APPENDIX G. PAGE 154. 

ADDITIONAL NOTICES OF LE SUEUR AND PENICAUT. 

Pierre Le Sueur, born in 1657, was the son of a Frenchman 
from Artois, who emigrated to Canada. LaHarpe asserts that 
Le Sueur saw the Mississippi for the first time by way of the 
Wisconsin, in 1683, probably a misprint for 1685, when he 
may have been with Perrot, on his first visit. His name ap- 
pears as a companion of Perrot, on his second visit, in 1689, 
at Fort St. Antoine, Lake Pepin. In the Proces Verbal made 
at the fort, this time, Le Sueur's name appears, and the 
Minnesota River is called Saint Pierre. In the Map of the 
Mississippi River, prepared in 1703 by De l'lsle, largely from 
information given by Le Sueur, the river is marked, for the 
first time, as Saint Pierre. The statement that this river may 
have been named after Legardeur St. Pierre, which appears on 
the 195th page, is erroneous. As the Assineboine, on the early 
French maps, is called St. Charles, in compliment to Charles 
Beauharnois, Governor of Canada, so the Minnesota may have 
been called St. Pierre, after Pierre Le Sueur, in compliment to 
its first explorer. 

Returning from Lake Pepin, on the 29th of March, 1690, he 
married Marguerite Messier, the maiden name of whose mother 
was Anne Lemoyne, the aunt of Pierre Lemoyne, the Sieur 
D'Iberville, first Governor of Louisiana; thus the Governor 
was the first cousin of Le Sueur's wife. He was sent in 1693 
to LaPointe, to make a treaty with the Sioux and Chippeway, 
and in 1695 established the fort below Hastings. 

Le Sueur's children were Marie Anne, born February 15th, 
1693; Louise Marguerite, born June 4th, 1694; Marie, born 
April 21st, 1696; Jean Paul, born June, 1697, and Marguerite, 
born July 4th, 1699. 

Teeoskahtay, the Sioux chief referred to on page 151, was 
buried on the 3d of February, 1696. An ecclesiastical register 
has the following entry: "Siou, age 40 years, deputy of that 
nation, who had the happiness to be baptized, and died at M. 
LeScieur's, the interpreter of this Indian. Buried 3 Feb., 1696, 
at Montreal." 



LE SUEUR ACCOMPANIES d'iBERYILLE. 845 

In the 4th volume of Marge's "French Discoveries,'" pub 
lished in 1SS0, at Paris, there are some notices of Le Sueur 
which are worthy of preservation. The Minister of Marine 
writes to DTberville from Versailles, on the 26th of August, 
1699, as follows: 

14 The Sieur Le Sueur, of Canada, having induced certain 
persons in Paris to take an interest with him in the seeking 
for certain mines, which he claims to have discovered in the 
Sioux country, his Majesty, two years ago, gave him permis- 
sion to go thither with some Canadians, but afterwards, hav- 
ing thought fit to revoke the permit, the Sieur Le Sueur 
requested to go to the north of the. Mississippi, and to ascend 
it as far as the Sioux country. His Majesty very willingly- 
acceded to his request, and it is his wish that you receive him 
on the ship which you command, with the men required for 
the equipment of two canoes, some laborers, and necessary 
munitions; and in case he should not have enough men with 
him for the two canoes, he desires that you allow him some of 
the Canadians which you take with you." 

Bernard de la Harpe says that Le Sueur arrived in Louisi- 
iana, with his wife's kinsman DTberville, on the 7th of De- 
cember, 1699, but it was the 8th of January, 1700, when the 
vessel reached the Bay of Biloxi. 

By the 19th of February, 1700, Le Sueur by a short portage 
from Lake Ponchartrain, had reached the Mississippi, and, at 
the village of Bayogoules, began to prepare canoes for his 
voyage. DTberville gave for his use a u felouque,"a long boat 
with sails, when on his way to visit the Natches, and return- 
ing, on the 21th of March, he met Le Sueur six leagues above 
the Houmas village, with the felucca he had given him, and 
there he also presented him with a large birch bark canoe, and 
allowed him five men, besides the one who had been master of 
the felucca. 

One of those who became a member of LeSueur's expedition, 
had come to Louisiana with DTberville, on his first visit, and 
in his journal lately printed (see page 175), he writes: U I was 
ordered by M. de Sauvolle to go on this expedition which M. 
Le Sueur was going to make, and repair shallops. After he 



846 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

had got together all the necessary supplies and tools, he set 
out, in the month of April of this year [1700 J with a single 
shallop, in which were but twenty-five persons." 

Penicaut's account, in some particulars, varies from the 
account taken from LaHarpe, which is found in the eighth 
chapter of this History. Speaking of the supposed copper 
mine on the Blue Earth, he writes: 

" When spring arrived, we went to work in the copper 
mine. This was the beginning of April of this year [1701], 
We took with us twelve laborers and four hunters. Tin's 
mine was situated about three-quarters of a league from our 
post. We took from the mine, in twenty days, more than 
twenty thousand pounds 1 weight of ore, of which we only 
selected four thousand pounds of the finest, which M. LeSueur, 
who was a very good judge of it, had carried to the fort, and 
which has since been sent to France; though I have not 
learned the result. 

" This mine is situated at the beginning of a very long 
mountain, which is upon the bank of the river, so that boats can 
go right to the mouth of the mine itself. At this place is the 
green earth, which is a foot and a half in thickness, and above 
it is a layer of earth as firm and hard as stone, and black and 
burnt like coal by the exhalation from the mine. The copper 
is scratched out with a knife. There are no trees upon this 
mountain. * * * After twenty- two days' work, we returned 
to our fort. When the Sioux, who belong to the nation of 
savages who pillaged the Canadians, came, they brought us 
merchandise of furs. 

" They had more than four hundred beaver robes, each robe 
made of nine skins sewed together. M. Le Sueur purchased 
these and many other skins which he bargained f3r, in the 
week he traded with the savages. * * * We sell in return 
wares which come very dear to the buyers, especially tobacco 
from Brazil, in the proportion of a hundred crowns to the 
pound; two little horn-handled knives and four leaden bullets 
are equal to ten crowns, in exchange for skins; and so with 
the rest. 

" In the beginning of May, we launched our shallop in the 



penicaut's travels. 847 

water, and loaded it with green earth that had been taken out 
of the river, and with the furs we had traded lor, of which we 
had three canoes full. M. Le Sueur, before going, heid coun- 
cil with M. D'Evaque, the Canadian gentleman, and the three 
great chiefs of the Sioux, three brothers, and told them that as 
he had to return to the sea, he desired them to live in peace with 
M. D'Evaque, whom he left in command at Fort L'Huillier, 
with twelve Frenchmen. M. Le Sueur made a considerable 
present to the three brothers, chiefs of the savages, desiring 
them to never abandon the French. Afterward we, the twelve 
men whom he had chosen to go down to the sea with him, em- 
barked. In setting out, M. LeSueur promised to M. D'Evaque 
and the twelve Frenchmen who remained with him to guard 
the fort, to send up munitions of war from the Illinois country, 
as soon as he should arrive there; which he did, for on getting 
there, he sent off to him a canoe loaded with two thousand 
pounds of lead and powder, with three of our people in charge." 

The canoe, when it was opposite the lead mine of Nicolas 
Perrot, on the upper Mississippi, broke in two, and the cargo 
was lost. 

Le Sueur aud Penicaut reached Fort Biloxi, near Mobile, in 
a long boat, and found that D'Iberviile had just returned from 
France. In a few weeks D' Iberville again sailed for France, and 
Penicaut writes: " The ore we brought with us from the mines 
we placed on board the ships, for the purpose of being assayed 
in France, but we never after discovered what became of it." 

During the latter part of March, 1702, D'Evaque reached 
Fort Biloxi, and reported to D'Iberville, who on the 18th of 
the month had come back from France, that he had been at- 
tacked by the Foxes and Maskoutens, who killed three French- 
men who were working near Fort L'Huillier, and that, being 
out of powder and lead, he had been obliged to conceal the 
goods which were left, and abandon the post. At the Wis- 
consin River he found Juchereau St. Denis, formerly criminal 
judge in Montreal, with thirty-five men, on his way to estab- 
lish a tannery for buffalo skins at the Wabash, and at the 
Illinois he met the canoe of supplies sent by Bienville, D'lber- 
ville's brother. 



848 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

B. de la Harpe makes Le Sueur arrive on the 10th of Feb- 
ruary, 1701. at the Gulf of Mexico, with the blue or green 
earth from the Sioux country, and on the 28th of May Dlber- 
ville went to Prance. He has also fallen into an error in say- 
ing that the men left by Le Sueur came back to the Gulf of 
Mexico on the 30th of March, 1703. 

D'lberville had returned to the colony on the 18th of March, 
1702, and on the 30th of April departed again for France, ac- 
companied by Le Sueur. 

During the summer of this year, Count Pontchartrain wrote 
to the Intendent of Canada, " One need not be surprised if 
M. D'Iberville proposes the appointment of Le Sueur to go 
among the tribes, he having married his first cousin, and also 
one of the most active from Canada in the trade of the woods, 
having been engaged therein fourteen years." 

D'Iberville having been appointed commander in chief for 
Louisiana, wrote to the Minister of Marine in behalf of Le 
Sueur as lieutenant general of justice for that region, and 
thought he should have a yearly salary of five hundred crowns. 
The minister, under date of 24th of January, 1703, replied that 
he did not think the king would approve of this salary, but 
would give him proper compensation for any service rendered 
among the Sioux and Illinois. 

On the 15th of February D'Iberville writes from Rochelle 
to the French government, that if they contemplate an expe- 
dition to New Mexico, Le Sueur should in the month of 
August, be sent with eight or ten men among the Sioux, to 
bring them down to a common rendezvous. The Minister of 
Marine informs him, on the 17th of June, that if he thinks 
that the Sieur Le Sueur is the proper person for lieutenant 
general of the jurisdiction of Mobile, he will be appointed by 
his Majesty. 

On the 14th of November, as D'Iberville was about to sail 
for Louisiana, he was detained by sickness, and in 1705, on his 
way to the colony, he died of yellow fever. Le Sueur is also 
said to have died while returning from France. 



SrEUR DE LA PERRIRE. 849 

APPENDIX H. PAGE 183. 

FORT BEAUHARNOIS, ON LAKE PEPIN". 

Charlevoix, in 1721, was sent by the French government to 
examine the condition of Canada and Louisiana, and upon his 
return to France he suggested an expedition to the Pacific 
Ocean, either by the valley of the Missouri River or through 
the Sioux country. It was thought better to attempt to find 
a route through the Sioux country, and to establish an initial 
post on the shores of Lake Pepin, and in 1722 an allowance 
was made by the French government of twelve hundred livres 
for two Jesuit missionaries to accompany those who should 
establish the new post. D'Avagour, Superintendent of Mis- 
sions, in May, 1723, requested the authorities to grant a sepa- 
rate canoe for the conveyance of the goods of the proposed 
mission, and as it was necessary to send a commandant to 
persuade the Indians to receive the missionaries, he recom- 
mended Sieur Pachot, an officer of experience, who knew the 
Sioux. 

A dispatch from Canada to the French government, dated 
October 14, 1723, announced that Father dela Chasse, Supe- 
rior of the Jesuits, expected that the next spring Father Guy- 
moneau, and another missionary, from Paris, would go to the 
Sioux, but that they had been hindered by the Sioux a few 
months before, killing seven Frenchmen on the way to Louis- 
iana. The aged Jesuit, Joseph J. Mai est, who had been on 
Lake Pepin in 1689, with Perrot, and who was now in Mont- 
real, sa : d that it was the wandering Sioux who had killed the 
French, but he thought the stationary Sioux would receive 
Christian instruction. The hostility of the Foxes had also 
prevented the establishment of a fort and mission among the 
Sioux. 

It was not until June, 1727, as has been related upon the 
one hundred and sixty-third page, that the expedition left 
Montreal to build a fort on the shores of Lake Pepin. The 
Jesuit priests who accompanied the party, were Guignas, "an 
able mathematician", and De Gonor. The fort was first built 
ou thp north side of Lake Pepin. A letter from the Brevoort 
54 



850 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

manuscripts, published in Shea's " Early Voyages, 1 ' written by 
Guignas in May, 1728, has these words: 

14 On the 17th of September, 1727, at noon, we reached this 
lake, which had been chosen as the bourne of our voyage. We 
planted ourselves on the shore, about the middle of the north 
side, on a low point where the soil is excellent. The wood is 
very dense there, but is already thinned in consequence of the 
rigor and length of the winter, which has been severe for the 
climate, for we are here on the parallel of 43 deg. 41 miu. It 
is true that the difference of the winter is great compared with 
that of Quebec and Montreal, for all that some poor judges 
say. 

44 From the day of our landing we put our axes to the wood: 
on the fourth day following the fort was entirely finished.*** 

44 Before the end of October [1727] all the houses were 
finished and furnished, and each one found himself tranquilly 
lodged at home. They then thought only of going out to 
explore the hills and rivers, and to see those herds of all kinds 
of deer of which they tell such stories in Canada. They must 
have retired or diminished greatly since the time the old voy- 
ageurs left the country; they are no longer in such great num- 
bers, and are killed with difficulty. 

u All would go well there if the spot were not inundated," 
but this year [1728], on the 15th of the month of April, we 
were obliged to camp out, and the water ascended to the height 
of two feet and eight inches in the houses, and it is idle to say 
that it was the quantity of snow that fell this year. The snow 
in the vicinity had melted long before, and there was only a 
foot and a half from the 8th of February to the 15th of March; 
you could not use snow-shoes. 

" I have great reason to think that this spot is inundated 
more or less every year. I have always thought so, but they 
were not obliged to believe me, as old people who said that 
they had lived in this region fifteen or twenty years, declared 
that it was never overflowed. We could not enter our much- 
devastated houses until the 30th of April, and the disorder is 
even now scarcely repaired." 

The fort, if at first on the Wisconsin side, was removed to 
the other side of Lake Pepin. Bellin, in 1755, speaks of Per- 



KICKAPOOS CAPTURE FRENCHMEN. 851 

rot's first fort above the mouth of the Chippeway, and of an 
other fort on the other side of the lake. See Appendix I for 
additional information. 



APPENDIX I. PAGE 184. 

SIEUR DE BOUCHER YILLE AND FATHER GUIGNAS CAPTURED. 

Capt. Rene Boucher, Sieur de la Perriere, the builder of Fort 
Beauharnois, was the eighth son of Pierre de Boucherville, and 
at the time of the expedition to Lake Pepin, was fifty-five years 
of age. His brother, the Sieur Montbrun, and La Jemeraye, 
a nephew of himself and Verandrie, are mentioned as being at 
the Fort Beauharnois, or Pepin, After this period, the lake 
took the name of Pepin. May it not have been named after 
Pepin, the Sieur de la Fond, who married La Perriere's aunt? 

About the time that Father Guignas wrote his narrative, 
Father de Gonor left Lake Pepm, and, by way of Mackinaw, 
returned to Canada. Early in October, 1728, the fort being 
left in charge of Sieur de la Jemeraye, the Sieur de Boucher- 
ville, Montbrun, the Jesuit Guignas, and other Frenchmen, 
eleven in all, left lake Pepin to go to Montreal by way of the 
Illinois river, and at the river " Au Boeuf," twenty-two leagues 
above that stream, on the 12th of October, they were captured 
by the Mascoutens and Kickapoos. 

The following correspondence upon the subject from the 
Paris Documents in the Parliament Library, Ottawa, alludes 
to this capture. 

De Tilly, under date of 29th of April, 1729, writes "that 
eleven Frenchmen and Father Guignase, having left the Fort 
Pepin to descend the Riviere Mississippi as far as the Illinois, 
and to go from thence to Canada, were captured by the Mas- 
coutens and Quicapous, and brought to the Rivere au Bceuf, 
with the intention to deliver them to the Renards, and that 
the Sieur de Montbrun and his brother, with another French- 
man, escaped from their hands the night before they were tc 
bo surrendered to these Indians. The Sieur de Montbrun left 



852 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

his brother sick among the Tamaroides [Tamarawas of Illi- 
nois] and brought the intelligence to M. le General, avoiding 
certain posts on the road, to escape the Mascoutens and Quic- 
apous." 

Governor Beauharnois, on the 29 th of October, wrote to the 
French Colonial Minister, " I have the honor to report upon 
what has passed upon the part of the Quickapous and Mas- 
coutens who arrested the French coming from the post of the 
Sioux, and the enterprise of Sieur de Montbrun, after his es- 
cape from the village of the savages, to bring us the news of 
the affair. 

" He is a person zealous in the service of his Majesty, and T 
cannot refuse the request he has made to write to you to pro- 
cure his promotion. He is Cadet of the Troop and a most 
excellent officer. 

" The Sieur de la Jemeraye, who remained among f he Sioux 
with some Frenchmen, and brought the Renard's chief to the 
River St. Joseph, also deserves the honor of your protection." 
Sieur de Boucherville and Guignas remained prisoners for 
several months, and the former did not reach Detroit until 
June, 1729. The account of expenditures made during his 
captivity is interesting as showing the value of merchandise 
at that time. It reads as follows: 

" Memorandum of the goods that Monsieur de Boucherville 
was obliged to furnish in the service of the king, from the 
time of his detention among the Kikapou, on the 12th of 
October, 1728, until his return to Detroit in the year 1729, 
in the month of June. On arriving at the Kikapou village, 
he made a present to the young men, to secure their opposi- 
tion to some evil minded old warriors: 
Two barrels of powder, each fifty pounds, at Montreal 

price, valued at the sum of . 1501iv. 

One hundred pounds of lead and balls making the sum of oOliv. 
Four pounds of vermillion at 12 francs the pound, . 48fr. 

Four coats, braid, at twenty francs, 80fr. 

Six dozen knives at four francs the dozen, .... 24fr. 
Four hundred flints, one hundred gun-worms, two hun- 
dred ramrods and one hundred and fifty files, the total 
at the maker's prices, 901 iv. 



PRESENTS TO INDIANS. 853 

After the Kikapou refused to deliver them to the Renards 
[Foxes] they wished some favors, and I was obliged to give 
them the following, which would allow them to weep over 
and cover their dead. 

Two braid coats @ 20 francs each, 40fr. 

Two woolen blankets @ 15 francs each, . . , . . 30 fr. 
One hundred pounds of powder @ 30 sous, .... 75fr. 

One hundred pounds of lead @ 10 sous, 25fr. 

Two pounds of vermillion @ 12 francs, 24fr. 

Moreover, given to the Renards, to cover their dead and 

prepare them for peace, 50 pounds of powder making, 75 fr. 

One hundred pounds of lead @ 10 sous, 50fr. 

Two pounds of vermillion @ 12 francs, 24fr. 

During the winter a considerable party was sent to strike 
hands with the Illinois. Given at that time. 

Two blue blankets @ 15 francs, 30h\ 

Four men's shirts @ 6 francs, ........ 24fr. 

Four pairs of long-necked bottles @ 6 francs, , . . 24fr. 

Four dozen of knives @ 4 francs, 16fr. 

Gun-worms, files, ramrods and flints, estimated, . . 40fr. 

Given to engage the Kickapou to establish themselves upon 
a neighboring isle, to protect from the treachery of the 
Renards. 

Four blankets @ 15 francs, 60fr. 

Two pairs of bottles, 6 francs 24fr. 

Two pounds of vermillion, 12 francs, 24fr. 

Four dozen butcher knives, 6 francs 24fr. 

Two woolen blankets @ 15 francs, 30fr. 

Four pairs of bottles @ 6 francs, 24fr. 

Four shirts @ 6 francs, 24fr. 

Four dozen of knives @ 4 francs, 16fr. 

The Renards having betrayed and killed their brothers the 
Kickapou, I seized the favorable opportunity, and to encour- 
age the latter to avenge themselves, I gave — 
Twenty-five pounds of powder @ 30 sous, . . . . 37f. 10s. 

Twenty-five pounds of lead @ 10 sous, 12f. 10s. 

Two guns at 30 francs each, 60f. 

One half pound of vermillion, 6f. 

Flints, gun - worms and knives, 20f. 



854 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

The Illinois coming to the Kiekapou's village, I sup- 
ported them at my expense, and gave them powder, 

balls and shirts, valued at, 50f. 

In departing from the Kikapou village, I gave them 
the rest of the goods for their good treatment, esti- 
mated at, 80f. 

In a letter written by a priest at New Orleans, on July 12, 
1730, is the following exaggerated account of the capture of 
Father Guignas: "We always felt a distrust of the Fox 
Indians, although they did not longer dare to undertake any 
thing, since Father Guignas has detached from thuir alliance 
the tribes of the Kikapous and Maskoutins. You know, my 
Reverend Father, that being in Canada, he had the courage to 
penetrate even to the Sioux near the sources of the Mississippi, 
at the distance of eight hundred leagues from New Orleans 
and five hundred from Quebec. Obliged to abandon this 
important mission by the unfortunate result of the enterprise 
against the Foxes, he descended the river to repair to the Illi- 
nois. On the 15th of October in the year L728, he was arrested 
when half way, by the Kikapous and Mascoutins. For four 
months he was a captive among the Indians, where he had 
much to suffer and every thing to fear. The time at last came 
when he was to be burned alive, when he was adopted by an 
old man, whose family saved his life and procured his liberty. 
" Our missionaries who are among the Illinois were no 
sooner acquainted with the situation than they procured him 
all the alleviation they were able. Every thing which he re- 
ceived he employed to conciliate the Indians, and succeeded to 
the extent of engaging them to conduct him to the Illinois, 
to make peace with the French and Indians of this region. 
Seven or eight months after this peace was concluded, the Mas- 
koutins and Kikapous returned again to the Illinois country, 
and took back Father Guignas, to spend the winter, trom 
whence, in all probability, he will return to Canada." 

After peace was established with the Foxes, Legardeur Saint 
Pierre was in command at Fort Beauharnois, and Father 
Guignas again attempted to establish a Sioux mission. In a 
coiijmunication dated 12th of October, 1736, by the Canadian 
authorities', is the following: "In regard to the Scioux, Saint 



ST. PIERRE AT LAKE PEPIN". 855 

Pierre, who commanded at that post, and Father Guiguas, the 
missionary, have written to Sieur de Beauharnois, on the tenth 
and eleventh of last April, that these Indians appeared well 
intentioned toward the French, and had no other fear than 
that of being abandoned by them. Sieur de Beauharnois 
annexes an extract of these letters, and, although the Scioux 
seem very friendly, the result only can tell whether this fidelity 
is to be absolutely depended upon; for the unrestrained and 
inconsistent spirit which composes the Indian character may 
easily change it. They have not come over this summer as 
yet, but M. de la St. Pierre is to get them to do so next year, 
and to have an eye on their proceedings." 

The reply to this communication from Louis XV., dated 
Versailles, May 10th, 1737, was in these words: "As respects 
the Scioux, according to what the commandant and missionary 
at that post have written to Sieur de Beauharnois relative to 
the disposition of these Indians, nothing appears to be want- 
ing on that point. 

k * But their delay in corning down to Montreal since the time 
they have promised to do so, must render their sentiments 
somewhat suspected, and nothing but facts can determine 
whether their fidelity can be absolutely relied on. But what 
must still further increase the uneasiness to be entertained in 
their regard is the attack on the convoy of M. de Verandrie, 
especially if this officer has adopted the course he had informed 
the Marquis de Beauharnois he should take to have revenge 
therefor." 



APPENDIX J. PAGb 186. 

VERANDRIE AND OTHER OFFICERS EMPLOYED TO FIND A ROUTE 
TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 

Groselliers, in 1660, had intercourse with the Assineboines 
at the Grand Portage, the western extremity of Lake Superior, 
and then by Lake Nepigon, found his way to Hudson's Bay, 
but not to Lake Winnipeg, as das sometimes been asserted. 



856 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

In the year 1716, the Canadian authorities determined to 
attempt to reach, the Pacific Ocean by way of the lakes west 
of Lake Superior. The French government alludes to the 
project in the following communication, dated December 7th, 
1717: 

" Messrs. de Yaudreuil and ^Regon having written last year 
that the discovery of the Western Ocean would be advan- 
tageous to the colony, it was approved, that, as a means of 
succeeding in that enterprise, M. de Vaudreuil should establish 
three posts which he had proposed, and it was noted in the 
meantime, that to found these establishments would cost noth- 
ing to the king, while the commerce should indemnify those 
by whom they were founded, and to send a detailed estimate 
of what it would cost to continue the discovery. 

They stated in reply, that in the month of July kst, M. 
Vandreuil had caused Sieur Noue, lieutenant, with eight 
canoes, to set out on this discovery. He was ordered to estab- 
lish the first post on the river Kamanistiguoya, on the north 
of Lake Superior; after which he was to go to Takamanigen 
[Rainy LakeJ, toward the Christeneaux, to establish the sec- 
ond, and obtain from the savages the information necessary 
for establishing a third at the Lake of the Assinipoelles." 

Lt. Robertel la Noue arrived very late in 1617 at Kamanis- 
tiguoya, found few Indians, and was unable to send his canoes 
to Rainy Lake. During the winter he wrote through a French- 
man at LaPointe, to the chief of the Sioux nation, urging that 
they should make peace with the Christeneaux; as then there 
would be less risk in searching for a route to the Western 
Ocean. 

The Governor of Canada, on the 14th of November, 1719, 
wrote, "The Sieur de Vandreuil has not received any letter 
from Sieur de la Noue; he has only learnt by way of Chagoa- 
mion [La Point], which is on the south extremity of Lake 
Superior, where Sieur St. Pierre has been in command since 
last year, that Sieur Pachot had passed there on his way to 
the Scioux, where he was sent by the Sieur de la Noue, on the 
subject of the peace which he was trying to bring about 
between this nation and that of the Christeneaux, but 
that Pachot not having returned to Chogoamion when the 



ROUTE TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 857 

last canoes left, there was no intelligence of the success of his 
voyage. 

" The silence of Sieur la Noue gives reason for believing 
that he has determined to wait the return of Sieur Pachot, 
before giving an account to Sieur Vaudreuil of what he has 
done for the execution of the orders he was charged with, and 
that he had not been able to do it when Pachot had arrived 
at Kainanistiguoya, on account of the season being too far 
advanced. 

" The Sieur Vaudreuil supposes that the absence of Sieur 
Pachot has prevented Sieur de la Noue from sending this year 
to Takamaniouen, but that his officer will have found the 
means of attracting to his post the Indians who are accustomed 
to trade at Hudson's Bay/' 

La Noue failed to accomplish any thing in the way of open- 
ing a route to the Pacific Ocean, but the subject was revived 
with enthusiasm by Pierre Gualtier Yarennes, the Sieur Ve- 
randrie -(also written Verendrye), who, in 1727 was stationed 
at Lake Nepigon. In the spring of 1728 he was fortunate in 
meeting Father De Gonor, a Jesuit returning from the fort 
established by his relative, La Perriere Boucher, the year be- 
fore, on the shores of Lake Pepin, who informed him that 
Father Guignas, his colleague at the lake, was firm in the 
belief that a route could be opened to the Western Ocean. 

Yerandrie transmitted by De Gonor, a communication to 
Beauharnois, Governor of Canada, in which he related that 
Pacco, of Lake Nepigon, an Indian chief, while at the river 
Camanistigoya, on a war party, had found a great lake with 
three distinct outlets; one flowing to the English, at Hudson's 
Bay; the second south, to the Mississippi, and the third toward 
the setting sun. In another letter he informs the authorities 
that he has chosen a savage named " Ochaka," living at his 
post, to guide an expedition to the west, and that there were 
two routes; one by Mantveiangan or Kamanistigoya, and the 
other by the River Fond du Lac, now St. Louis. 

Ochagachs or Ochakah drew a rude map of the country, 
which is still preserved at Paris, a reduced copy of which faces 
page 800, for the first time published. 

Yerandrie was the son of Rene Gaultier Yarennes, who, for 



858 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

twenty-two years was the chief magistrate at Three Rivers, 
whose wife was Marie Boucher, the daughter of his predeces- 
sor, whom, he had married when she was twelve years of age. 
He became a cadet in 1697, and in 1704 accompanied an expe- 
dition to New England. The next year he was in Newfound- 
land, and the year following he went to France, joined a regi- 
ment of Brittany, and was in the conflict at Malplaquet, when 
the French troops were defeated by the Duke of Marlborough. 
When he returned to Canada he was obliged to accept the 
position of ensign, notwithstanding the gallant manner in 
which he had behaved. 

Charles de Beauharnois, the Governor of Canada, gave Ve- 
randrie a respectful hearing, and carefully examined the map 
of the region west of the great lakes, which had been drawn 
by Ochagachs (Otchaga), the Indian guide. Orders were soon 
given to fit out an expedition of fifty men. It left Montreal 
in 1731, under the conduct of his three sons and nephew De 
la Jemeraye, who had been in 1728, at the fort, on Lake 
Pepin, he not joining the party till 1738, in consequence of 
the detentions of business. 

In the autumn of 1731, the party reached Rainy Lake, by 
the Nantouagan, or Groselliers river, now called Pigeon. Fa- 
ther Messager, who had been stationed at Mackinaw, was 
taken as a spiritual guide. At the foot of Rainy Lake a post 
was erected and called Fort St. Pierre, and the next year, 
having crossed Minittie, or Lake of the Woods, they estab- 
lished Fort St. Charles on its southwestern bank. An un- 
published map of these discoveries by De la Jemeraye still 
exists at Paris. The river Winnipeg, called Maurepas, in 
honor of the minister of France in 1734, was protected by a 
fort of the same name. 

De la Jemeraye visited the Governor of Canada in 1733, and 
represented that the expedition was at Lake Winnipeg, but 
that they eould not proceed further at their own charges, as 
43,000 francs had been expended by their associates, and that 
the voyageurs would not work any longer unless they were 
paid. The French government refused to allow any money, 
jind wrote that Verandrie and partners must be satisfied with. 
the furs they would secure. Cast down but not in despair, 



VERANDRIE S SON MASSACRED. 859 

Verandrie in 1735, resolved to push on, and directed his fourth 
son, eighteen years of age, to study drawing and surveying, 
so that he might the next year join his father and three 
brothers. The Governor of Canada allowed him to farm out 
to traders for three years the posts he had established. 

In Jane, 1736, as twenty-one of the expedition were camped 
upon an isle in the Lake of the Woods, they were surprised by 
a band of Sioux hostile to the French allies, the Christeneaux 
and all killed. The island, upon this account, is called Mas- 
sacre Island. A few days after a party of five Canadian voya- 
geurs discovered their dead bodies and scalped heads. Father 
Ouneau, the missionary, was found upon one knee, an arrow 
in his head, his breast bare, his left hand touching the ground 
and the right hand raised. 

The priest's name may have been Guymonneau. There 
was among the Ottawas, in 1721, a Jesuit, J. C. Guymonneau. 
Among the slaughtered was also a son of Verandrie, who 
had a tomahawk in his back, and his body adorned with gar- 
ters and bracelets of porcupine quills, The father was at th e 
foot of the Lake of the Woods when he received the news of his 
son's murder, and about the same time heard of the death of his 
enterprising nephew, Dufrost de la Jemeraye, the son of his 
sister Marie Reine de Varennes and brother of Madame You- 
ville, the foundress of the Hospitaliers at Montreal. 

When the many difficulties of the three and a quarter 
leagues of Nantouagan (Pigeon) portage disheartened the voy- 
ageurs, Jemeraye kept up his courage, and in 1731, was the 
first to pass beyond, and commence the fort at Rainy Lake. 

On the 3d of October, 1738, they built an advanced post, 
Fort La Reine, on the river Assiniboels, which they called St. 
Charles, and beyond was a branch called St. Pierre. These 
two rivers received the baptismal name of Verandrie, which 
was Pierre, and Governor Beauharnois, which was Charles, 
The post became the centre of trade and point of departure 
for explorations either north or south. 

It was by ascending the Assiniboine, and by the present 
trail from its tributary, Mouse river, they reached the country 
of the Mantanes, and in 174-2, came to the Upper Missouri, 
passed the Yellowstone, and at length arrived at the Rocky 



860 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Mountains. The party was led by the eldest . son and his 
brother, the chevalier. They left the Lake of the Woods on 
the 29th of April, 1742, came in sight of the Rocky Mountains 
on the 1st of January, 1743, and on the 12th the chevalier 
ascended them, his brother being left some distance behind. 
On the route they fell in with the Beaux Homines, Pioya, 
Petits Renards, and Arc tribes, and stopped among the Snake 
tribe, but could go no farther in a southerly direction, owing 
to a war between the Arcs and Snakes, 

On the 19th of March, 1743, they returned to the upper 
Missouri, and in the country of the Petite Cerise tribe, they 
planted on an eminence a leaden plate of the arms ot France, 
and raised a monument of stones, which they called Beauhar- 
nois. They returned to the Lake of the Woods on the 2d of 
July. 

North of the Assiniboine they proceeded to Lake Dauphin, 
Swan's Lake, explored the river " Des Biches," and ascended 
even to the fork of the Saskatchewan, which they called Pos- 
koiac. Two forts were subsequently established; one near 
Lake Dauphin and the other on the river "Des Biches," called 
Fort Bourbon. The northern route, by the Saskatchewan* 
was thought to have some advantage over the Missouri, be- 
cause there was no danger of meeting with the Spaniards. 

In 1743, Verendrye the father returned to Quebec, and to 
the charge that he had enriched himself, he answered, " If the 
40,000 livres of debt that I have over my head were an advan- 
tage, I can compliment myself on being very rich." 

Governor Beauharnois having been prejudiced against Ve- 
randrie by envious persons, De Noyelles was appointed to 
take command of the post. During these difficulties we find 
Sieur de la Verandrie, Jr. engaged in other duties. In August, 
1747, he arrives from Mackinaw at Montreal, and in the au- 
tumn of that year he accompanies St. Fierre to Mackinaw, 
and brings back the convoy to Montreal. In February, 1748, 
with five Canadians, five Christenaux, two Ottawas, and one 
Sauteur, he attacked the Mohawks near Schenectady, and 
returned to Montreal with two scalps, one that of a chief. 
On June 20th, 1748, it is recorded that Chevalier de la Veran- 
drie departed from Montreal for the head of Lake Superior. 



DEATH OF SIEUR VERANDRIE. 861 

Ma gry states that he perished at sea in November, 1764, by 
the wreck of the "Auguste." 

Fortunately, Galissioniere the successor of Beauharnois, 
although deformed and insignificant in appearance, was fail 
minded, a lover of science, especially botany, and anxious to 
push discoveries toward the Pacific. Verandrie the father was 
restored to favor, and made Captain of the Order of St. Louis, 
and ordered to resume explorations. He expected to leave 
Montreal in May, 1750, and reach by December, Fort Bourbon, 
where he would await the navigation of the Saskatchewan, 
the next spring, and proceed to cross the Rocky Mountains to 
the great lake [perhaps Puget's Sound J of which the Indians 
had spoken. A little while after he formed this plan, on 
the 6th of December, 1749, he died. 

The Swedish Professor Kalm met him in Canada, not long 
before his decease, and had interesting conversations with him 
about the furrows on the plains of the Missouri, which he 
conjectured indicated the former abode of an agricultural 
people. These ruts are familiar to modern travelers, and may 
be only buffalo trails. 

Father Coquard, who had been aasociated with Verandrie, 
says that they first met the Mantanes, and next the Brochets* 
After these were the Gros Ventres, the Crows, the Flat Heads' 
the Black Feet and Dog Feet, who were established on the 
Missouri, even up to the falls; and that about thirty leagues 
beyond they found a narrow pass in the mountains. 

Bougainville gives a more full account. He says, '' He who 
most advanced this discovery was the Sieur Veranderie. He 
went from Fort la Reine to the Missouri. He met on the 
banks of this river the Mandans or White Beards, who had 
seven villages, with pine stockades strengthened by a ditch- 
Next to these were the Kinongewiniris or the Brochets, in 
three villages, and toward the upper part of the river were 
three villages of the Mahantas. All along the mouth of toe 
Wabeik or Shell River, were situated twenty-three villages of 
the Panis To the southwest of this river, on the banks of 
the Ouanaradeba or La Graisse, are the Hectanes or Snake 
tribe. They extend to the base of a chain of mountains which 



862 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

runs north-northeast. South of this is the river Karoskiou 
or Cerise Pelee, which is supposed to flow to California. 

t; He found in the immense region watered by the Missouri 
and in the vicinity of forty leagues, the Mahantas, the Owili- 
niock or Beaux Hommes, four villages; opposite the Brochets 
the Black Feet, three villages of a hundred lodges each; oppo- 
site the Mandans are the Ospekakaerenousques or Flat Heads, 
four villages; opposite the Panis are the Arcs or Christinaux, 
and Utasibaoutchatas or Assiniboels, three villages; following 
these the Makesch or Little Foxes, two villages; the Piwassa 
or Great Talkers, three villages; the Kakokoschena or Gensde 
la Pie, five villages; the Kiskipisounouini or the Garter tribe^ 
seven villages." 

Galassoniere was succeeded by Jonquiere in the governor- 
ship of Canada, who proved to be a grasping, peevish and very 
miserly person. For the sons of Yerandrie he had no sym- 
pathy, and forming a clique to profit by their father's toils, he 
determined to send two expeditions toward the Pacific Ocean ; 
one by the Missouri and the other by the Saskatchewan. 

Father Coquard, one of the companions of Verandrie, was 
consulted as to the probability of finding a pass in the Rocky 
Mountains through which they might in canoes reach the 
great lake of salt water; perhaps Puget's Sound. 

The enterprise was at length confided to two experienced 
officers, Lamarque de Marin and Jacques Legardeur de Saint 
Pierre. The former was assigned the way by the Missouri, 
and to the latter was given the more northern route. But 
Saint Pierre in some way excited the hostility of the Christi- 
naux, who attempted to kill him, and burned Fort la I'eine. 
His lieutenant, Boucher de Niverville, who had been sent to 
establish a post toward the source of the Saskatchewan, failed 
on account of sickness. Some of his men, however, pushed on 
to the Rocky Mountains, and in 1752 established Fort Jon- 
quire. Henry says Saint Pierre established Fort Bourbon. 

Bellin, in " Remarks upon the Map of North America," 
published in 1755 at Paris, upon the authority of the journal of 
M. le Gardeur St. Pierre, written in 1750, mentions that Fort 
La Reine was built upon the north side of the Assineb»ine, 
and that by a portage of three leagues Swan Lake would be 



LEGARDEUR SAINT PIERRE KILLED. 863 

readied; and he states, further, that the fort on Red River 
had been abandoned because of its nearness to La Reine. 

In 1753 Saint Pierre was succeeded in the command of the 
West, by De la Corne, and sent to French Creek, in Pennsyl- 
vania. He had been but a few days there when he received a 
visit from Washington, just entering upon manhood, bearing 
a letter from Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, complaining of 
the encroachments of the French. 

Soon the clash of arms between France and England began, 
and Saint Pierre, at the head of the Indian allies, fell near 
Lake George, in September, 1755, in a battle with the English. 
After the seven years' war was concluded, by the treaty of 
Paris the French relinquished an their posts in the Northwest 
and the work begun by Verandrie was, in 1805, completed by 
Lewis and Clarke, and the Northern Pacific Railway is fast 
approaching the passes of the Rocky Mountains, through the 
valley of the Yellowstone, and from thence to the great land- 
locked bay of the ocean, Puget's Sound. 

NOTICE OF FRENCH OFFICERS. 

Jacques Legardeur St. Pierre, born on the 24th of October, 
1701, was the son of Paul Legardeur, the Sieur St. Pierre who 
was born in 1661, whose father, J. Baptiste Legardeur, on the 
11th of July, 1656, had married Marguerite, the daughter of 
the brave explorer, Jean Nicolet, the first white man, who, 
about A. D. 1635, reached the valle} r of the Wisconsin River. 

His father, Capt. St. Pierre, in 1719 was sent to La Pointe. 
The son, in 1746, was engaged in fighting the Mohawks near 
Montreal, and in the fall of 1746 he arrived at Mackinaw with 
one hundred canoes of supplies. The next year he was in 
command at that post, with his brother, Louis Legardeur, the 
Chevalier de Repentigny, as second officer. 

From Mackinaw he appears to have been ordered to the 
Winnipeg region, and from there, in 1753, to a rude post in 
Erie county, Pa., where he had an interview with young 
George Washington. 

His last conflict was in September, 1755, at Lake George, 
under Baron Dieskau. He was in command of the Indian 



864 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

allies, and on the 24th of August he received the following 
from his superior officer: 

"Mr. de St. Pierre will have the goodness to make the 
Indians understand reason on that point [pillaging], especially 
not to amuse themselves scalping until the enemy be entirely 
defeated; inasmuch as ten men can be killed while one is being 
scalped." 

At 10 o'clock of the 8th of September, in the battle of Lake 
George, Legardeur St. Pierre was killed, and the Indians on 
that account, became furious, and seized the Englishman by 
whom he had been killed, and dispatched him with their tom- 
ahawks. That his name was given to the St, Peter's River is 
an error. It is more probable that it was so named after the 
baptismal name of Le Sueur, its first explorer. 

LOUIS LUC LA. CORNE. 

M. de la Corne, who succeeded St. Pierre in the Winnipeg 
region, was the son of Louis La Corne. He was born on the 
6th of June, 1713, and on December 10th, 1742, married Marie 
Anne Hervieux. In the summer of 1745 Lt. Luc de la Corne 
reinforced St. Pierre, who was approaching Lake George, and 
about this time his father was at Mackinaw, and known as 
Capt. de la Corne, who died April 2d, 1762, aged 96 years, at 
Terrebonne. 

Louis Luc distinguished himself at the battle of Ticonderoga, 
and was engaged in the battle of the Plains of Abraham. 
After Canada was ceded to England he was still active, and in 
the war of the Revolution he was in charge of Burgoyne's 
Indian troops at the battle of Saratoga. 

Burgoyne spoke slightingly of him in 1778, in a speech in 
the House of Commons; to which LaCorne replied in a spirited 
letter. In it he writes, " Notwithstanding my advanced age 
sixty-seven years, I am ready to cross the ocean to justify my- 
self before the king, my master, and before my country, from 
the ill-founded accusation that you have brought against mei 
although I do not at all care what you personally think of me." 

BOUCHER DE NIVERVILLE, 

"Boucher de Niverville, Chevalier, was the son of Ni'vervflTe 



NOTICE OF FRENCH OFFICERS. 865 

and the nephew of La Perriere Boucher, and Montbrun Bou- 
cher, and the Sieur Verandrie. In 1746 he left Montreal to 
annoy the New England frontier. In August, 1748, he was 
alarming the settlers at Fort Massachusetts, now Williaras- 
town. In 1757 he made a raid to the banks of the Potomac. 
He was with Montcalm, and is supposed to be the Ensign 
Boucher ville who was wounded at Quebec. 

LE MARQUE DE MARIN". 

A satisfactory notice of Le Marque de Marin can not be 
given. His name and age in A. D. 1732, probably appears in 
the following list of Ensigns given by Daniel. 

Le Gardeur, . . . age 37 Gaultier Varennes, age 54 
Le Gardeur St. Pierre, " 31 De Ligneris, , . " 31 
De Boucherville, . " 41 Niverville, . . "48 
Hertel Rouville, . " 27 Marin, . ,. . . "41 
Joncaire, ... u 24 

In 1753 there is a Marin associated with St. Pierre in north- 
western Pennsylvania. Sieur Marin established in 1753, the 
French post at Presque Isle, Erie county, and he died on the 
banks of Riviere de Bceuf, seven leagues from Lake Erie. 

Tanguay, in his Genealogical Dictionary, mentions a Paul 
Marin, born in 1692, married March 24th, 1718, who died at 
Fort Duquesne, Pa., October 24th, 1753. 



APPENDIX K. PAGE 30i. 

NOTES ON RED RIVER OF THE NORTH — MASSACRE ISLAND. 

In June, 1736, while twenty-one of Verandrie's expedition 
were camped upon an island in Lake of the Woods, they were 
surprised and killed by a band of Sioux. A party of five voy- 
ageurs a few days after discovered their bodies. Among the 
slaughtered was a son of Verandrie, who was found with a 
tomahawk in his back, and his body adorned with garters and 
and bracelets of porcupine. Father Ouneau, a missionary, had 
55 



866 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

an arrow sticking in his head, his breast bare, his left hand 
touching the ground, and his right hand raised. 

At this time the Sioux were still dwelling at Sandy Lake, 
but the attack led the French to favor the Ojibways, who 
soon occupied the shores of Red, Leech, and Sandy Lakes. 

OSSINIBOIA. PAGE 302. 

Lt. Edw. Chappell of the British navy, asserts that Ossini- 
boia is a Gaelic compound word, Osna Boia, Ossian's Town, and 
selected to please the Gaelic immigrants, and because of its 
resemblance to the name of the Assineboine tribe, often pro- 
nounced Asnaboyne. 

DAVID THOMPSON, ASTRONOMER AND GEOGRAPHER OF THE 
NORTHWEST COMPANY. PAGE 239. 

David Thompson was for seven years in the school of Christ's 
Hospital, London, known as the Blue Coat School. In May, 
1784, he was appointed a clerk to the Hudson's Bay Company, 
and was- sent to Fort Churchill, then in charge of Samuel 
Hearne, a native of London, who had published the account of 
a Voyage to the Arctic Regions under the auspices of the 
North West Company. 

In the summer of 1795, with an Irishman and two Indians 
for companions, he went from the shores of Hudson's Bay to 
Lake Athabasca. After his term expired with the Hudson's 
Bay Company he entered the service of the North West Com- 
pany, and was appointed to visit the Missouri and the sources 
of the Mississippi, and make geographical and astronomical 
observations. In pursuance of this object he reached the 
south side of Sault St. Marie of the 1st of June, 1797, and on 
the 17th reached the post of J. Baptiste Cadotte, at Fond du 
Lac. From thence he went to the Grand Portage, and there 
met Harmon, a trader, whose travels have been published, and 
found the North West's Company's vessel, the Otter, Captain 
Bennett,' on the 24th, ready to sail with furs to Sault St. Marie. 

On the 25th of June he ascertained the height northeast of 
Grand Portage to be seven hundred and fifty -one feet. This 



DAVID THOMPSON, GEOGRAPHER. 867' 

day a man came over with a letter from Daniel McGillivray, 
one of the partners of the N. W. Co., who had received a bad 
wound in one of his legs. The next day at 9^ a. m. the wounded 
man arrived in a litter borne by four persons. On the 29th 
the traders, McDonnel, Hughes, Chabouiller, Mcintosh, Rich- 
ards and Velco arrived, and their canoes, loaded with the 
winter's furs, were expected the next day. 

On Sunday, July 1st, Roderick McKenzie arrived from be- 
low, in a light canoe, with letters. The next day there came 
to the annual convocation William McKay from the Winni- 
peg region, and Cuthbert Grant, McLeod, McTavish and James 
McKenzie, from the Athabasca district. 

The sloop, Otter, on the 4th of July returned from Sault 
St. Marie, and in four days again sailed with furs, and Todd 
and Chabouiller passengers. On the 7th, the trader Sayers, 
with two canoes, went to Fond du Lac. 

Thompson left the Grand Portage with a brigade of four 
canoes in charge of Hugh McGilli; , and took with him an 
achromatic telescope, a sextant of ten inches radius, and other 
instruments made by the celebrated Dolland, and on the 18th 
of August reached Cumberland House, on the Saskatchewan 
River. He spent the autumn in visiting the posts in that 
vicinity, and on the 28th of November, 1797, left McDonnel's 
post in lat. 49 deg. 40 min. 56 sec, on the Assiniboine, for 
a journey to the Missouri River. His companion's were 
A. Brossman, servant; Rene Jnssome, as interpreter; Hugh 
McCracken, an Irishman, and seven French Canadians. After 
thirty-three days he reached the Missouri River, and visited 
the Mandan villages, where they lived in houses sunk below 
the surface, with mud roofs, which looked like muskrat hills, 
and made their own earthenware. In returning he went to 
Dog Tent Hill, north 28 degrees, east fifty miles; thence to 
Turtle Hill, fourteen miles; thence to the Ash House on 
Mouse River, twenty -four miles; thence to house of John 
McDonnell, north 69 deg. east forty-five miles. 

On the 26th of February, 1798, he left McDonnell's with 
three Canadians, an Indian guide, and three sleds drawn by 
six dogs. The junction of the Mouse River was about half a 
mile from the trading post. The snow was found to be very 



868 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

deep, and the guide became so fatigued that he had every two 
or three hours to be relieved. 

On the 7th of March the party readied the junction of the 
Assineboine with the Red River, and began its survey. On 
that day the sleds fell into the river, so that at 3 o'clock in 
the afternoon they were obliged to stop. At 4 o'clock the 
next morning he arose to make siderial observations. The 
next day was very snowy and difficult to travel. The Indian 
guide was soon exhausted, and he was obliged to take the lead. 
When night came he was obliged to sleep in the open air, the 
trains being behind. 

On Saturday the 10th of March it was clear but cold, and at 
Si o'clock in the morning the men arrived with the trains, 
and the whole day was passed in drying clothes and goods. 
The next day at 7:30 a. m. set off and walked by the compass 
to the cent poles of three lodges of Chippeways, who had 
passed, a week before. This trail was followed to the river, 
where it was lost in the snow drift. At noon the party break- 
fasted, and at li p. m. again found the Chippeway tracks. 

On Monday, March 12th, started at 6;40 a. m. and found 
the Chippeways, and two agreed to go with Thompson to the 
house at the Summer Berry (Pembina) River. The Pembina 
River called by Thompson " Summer Berry", was named after 
a red berry which the Chippeways call, Nepin (summer) Mi- 
nan (berry), and this by the voyageurs has been abbreviated 
to Pembina, which is more euphonious. 

On the 14th he reached the North- West Company's post, 
in charge of Charles Chabouillier; and here he remained six 
days, to re2ruit after his exhausting journey through deep 
snow and slush. 

While there he ascertained that the post was in 48 deg. 54 
min. 24 sec. of north latitude, in longitude 97 deg. 16 min. 
40 seconds, and within the boundary of the United States of 
America. On the 21st of March began to ascend the Red 
River, and to proceed southwest and after four days reached 
the post of Baptiste Cadotte, in lat. 47 deg. 54 min. 21 sec, 
long. 96 deg. 19 min., where he remained until the breaking 
up of the ice. 



THOMPSON VISITS RED LAKE. 869 

On the 9th of April he began his journey to survey the 
northerniost source of the Mississippi. For fear of meeting 
ice he did not ascend Red Lake River, but proceeded up Clear 
Water River. In two days he reached the junction of the 
Wild Rice River, and the next day he came to the four mile 
portage which leads to Red Lake River. Reaching this river 
he ascended thirty-two miles to Red Lake. Here he found an 
old Chippewa chief, She-she-she-pas-kut, with six lodges of 
Indians. By nine o'clock at night on the 23d of April, 1798, 
he reached by a six mile portage Turtle Lake, the northern 
source of the Mississippi, and about four miles square with 
arms which gave it the shape of a turtle. At the time of the 
treaty of 1783, it was supposed to be north of Lake of the 
Woods. 

Twenty-five years before the Italian, Beltrami, Thompson 
reached this lake, and by an observation on its bank found its 
latitude 47 deg, 38 min. 28s. On the 27th of April he met two 
canoes of Ojibways, and as his was leaky, he took a seat in one of 
them. By several portages, on the 29th he reached the North- 
west Company's trading post, in charge of John Sayer, and 
ascertained its latitude. 

He began the descent of the Mississippi on the 3d of May, and 
in three days reached Sandy Lake post, in charge of Mr. Brus- 
key. Here he learned that on the 19th of February, one and 
a half days' journey from Sandy Lake, a party of Sioux, 
Sauks, and Menomonees killed about forty Chippeways. From 
this point on the 7th, he proceeded by that route eastward to 
Lake Superior. 

Near the mouth of the St. Louis River, on the 11th of May, 
he reached the N. W. Co. post in charge of Lemoine, At the 
lake he repaired a northern canoe twenty-eight feet in length, 
and with two oars and three men, navigated the lake, and 
on the 28th of May, reached Sault St. Marie, where he found 
Stuart, McCleod and Alexander Mackenzie. 

In 1808 Thompson made a journey to the Athabasca region? 
and after this explored beyond the Rocky Mountains. 

Franchere, in his narrative of the Astoria expedition, men- 
tions the descent of a canoe on July loth, 1811, near the 
mouth of the Columbia, and writes: " The flag she bore was 



870 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the British, and her orew was composed of eight boatmen or 
voyageurs. A well dressed man, who appeared to be the com- 
mander, was the first to leap ashore, and address us without 
ceremony, and said that his name was David Thompson, and 
that he was one of the partners of the North- West Company. 
Mr. Thompson kept a regular journal, and travelled, I thought, 
more like a geographer than a fur trader. He was provided 
with a sextant, thermometer and barometer." 

Irving in his '' Astoria," gives the following description: 
" On coming to the land, one of the crew stepped on shore 
and announced himself as Mr. David Thompson, astronomer, 
and partner of the North- West Company. According to his 
account, he had set out in the preceding year with a tolerably 
strong party and a supply of Indian goods, to cross the Rocky 
Mountains. A part of his people had, however, deserted him 
on the eastern side, and returned with the goods to the near- 
est North-West post. He had persisted in crossing the moun- 
tains with eight men who remained true to him. They had 
traversed the higher regions, and ventured near the source of 
the Columbia, where in the* spring, they had constructed a 
cedar canoe, the same in which they had reached Astoria.*** 
Mr. Thompson was, no doubt, the first white man who de- 
scended the northern branch of the Columbia from so near its 
source." 

Until 1821 he remained in the service of the North-West 
Company, and then was employed in the boundary survey, 
under the treaty of Ghent. In 1837 he made a survey of 
Georgian Bay. About 89 years of age, in 1857, he is said to 
have died. 

EARLY FUR TRADE OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY AND EXTRACTS 
FROM MSS. OF ALEXANDER HENRY, PAGE 301. 

The fur fcradeof the Red River Valley was chiefly controlled 
by the North West Company. This company was not char- 
tered as the Hudson's Bay Company, but an association formed 
in 1782, consisting of private traders, which in 1787 was en- 
larged by the absorption of minor companies. In 1798 the 
number of shares was increased to forty-six, which caused dis- 
satisfaction and led to the formation of the X. Y. Company, 



ANDRIANI DESCRIBES FUR-TRADERS. 8YI 

but in 1803 the two were united and the erection of Fort 
William (named after William McGillivray) begun. 

Count Andriani, of Milan, who in 1791 was at the Grand 
Portage of Lake Superior in his journal quoted by the Duke 
De la Rochefoucault Liancourt remarks: "The North West 
Company beins: more opulent than the rest, made use of its 
wealth to ruin its competitors. * * * * This petty war- 
fare which cost several lives and large sums of money at length 
opened the eyes of the rival companies. They became sensi- 
ble of the necessity of uniting in one body, and the North 
West Company made several sacrifices to attain this end * 
* * * The method observed by the agents in their traffic 
with the Indians is this, that they begin with intoxicating 
them with rum, to over-reach them with more facility in the 
intended business * * * * All the men employed in this 
trade are paid in merchandise which the Company sells with 
an enormous profit, it is obvious at how cheap a rate these 
people are paid. They purchase of the Company every arti- 
cle they want. It keeps with them an open account, and as 
they winter in the interior, and beyond Lake Winnipeg, they 
pay of consequence excessively dear for the blankets and the 
clothes which they bring with them for their wives. 

"These menial servants of the Company are generally extrav- 
agant, given to drinking to excess, and these are exactly the 
people the Company wants. The speculation in the excesses 
of these people is carried so far, that if one of them happens 
to lead a regular, sober life, he is burthened with the most 
laborious work, until by continued ill-treatment he is driven 
to drunkenness and debauchery, which vices causes the rum, 
blankets, and trinkets to be sold to greater advantage. In 
1791, nine hundred of these servants owed the Company more 
than the amount of ten or fifteen years pay." 

EXTRACTS FROM UNPUBLISHED JOURNALS OF HENRY. 

Alexander Henry was the nephew of the Alexander Henry, 
one of the first British subjects who traded at La Pointe be- 
fore the war of the Revolution, and whose book of travels is 
well known in the literary world. The nephew was one of 
the partners of the North- West Company, and although his 



872 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

education was limited, his perceptions were quick, descriptive 
power great, and his pen that of a ready writer. Few jour- 
nals contain so many important statements, and his notes 
on a residence among the Mandans ought to be printed. One 
of the prominent citizens of St. Paul, once a member of the 
Legislature from Pembina, Hon. Norman W. Kittson, is a 
relative of the writer of this journal. 

In 1799 he left Montreal in the service of the North- West 
Company to compete with the X. Y. Company and the Hudson 
Bay Company west of Lake Superior. In the summer of 1800 
he was at Lake Winnipeg at the time of a grasshopper inva- 
sion. In his journal he writes: 

GRASSHOPPERS AT WINNIPEG, A. D. 1800. 

" The beach here was covered with grasshoppers which had 
been thrown up by the waves, forming one continued line as 
far as the eye could see. In some places they lay from six to 
nine inches in depth, and were in a state of petrification, which 
caused a horrid stench/' 

"August 18, 1800. — Arrived at the Forks, where the Assine- 
boine River formed a junction with the Red River. * * 

[Near the site of the City of Winnipeg], "I found about 
forty Saulteurs waiting my arrival. They were well provided 
with a plentiful stock of dried buffalo meat for us, and anx- 
iously expecting to get a dram. I accordingly made them a 
present of liquor. In return, they fell to and kept drinking 
all night, during which we were plagued with mosquitoes, 
and prevented from sleeping, by the howling of the Indians 
and their dogs all night. 

"Tuesday, 19th. — We began early this morning to inspect 
the goods, and to divide them ; one-half being intended for 
Portage la Prairie, and the remainder for the Red River. 
* * * * At 12 o'clock, five Hudson Bay Company boats 
for Albany Factory, or rather Martin's Falls, arrived here. 
Mr. Robert Goodman, master, assisted by Mr. Brown. They 
pull ashore and remained with us until 4 o'clock, when they 
proceeded up the Assineboine. 

HUDSON" BAY COMPANY BOATS. 

"Their boats carry about 45 packages, averaging about 80 



RBD RIVER BRIGADE. S73 

pounds each, conducted by 4 oars, and a steersman ; they are 
neatly built, and pointed sharp at both ends. * * * * 

Upon this spot, in time of the French, there was a trading 
establishment, of which are still to be seen where their chim- 
neys and cellars stood. 

"Wednesday. 20th. — Early this morning Mr. J. McDonnel 
of the North- West Company, with his hazard, left us. and 
soon after I sent off my canoes, while I remained myself to 
get the Indians, who were yet scarcely sober. 

"At 12 o'clock the opposition X Y Company brigade of nine 
canoes and a boat arrived and proceeded directly up the As- 
sinebonie. I then embarked and proceeded about six miles. 

* * * Thursday. 21st. — Early this morning examined 
the baggage of my people and embarked, my brigade now 
reduced to four canoes and twenty-six packages per canoe. 
On board are the following men and families, viz : 

JACQUE BARKE, DBUCBHT. 

First Canoe: 

Etienne Charbonnais. (garcon) P. 
Joseph Dubois (ararcon). 
Angus McDonnell (marie). 
Antonie La France (marie). 
Pierre Bonga (negro). 

Second Canoe: 

Andre La Grossers, D. 

Jochim Daisvilie (garcon). 

Andre Beauchuiin (marie). 

J. Baptise Benoit (marie). 

Michael Coleret, wife and daughter, (commis). 

Third Canoe. 

J. Baptiste Rocque Sr.. D. 

J. Baptiste Rocque Jr. (garcon). 

Etienne Roy (marie). 

Francais Sini (marie) 

J. Desmarrais, guide and interpreter, wife, two children. 



874 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Fourth Canoe: 
Joseph Maceon, D. 
Charles Bellegarde (garcon) 
Joseph Hamel (marie). 
Nicholas Rubrette (marie)/' 

BONGA, THE NEGRO. 

From 1782 to May 10th, 1787, Capt. Daniel Robertson was 
the British officer in command at Mackinaw, and one of his 
slaves brought from the West Indies, was Bonga. His de- 
scendants are numerous. There was a Bonga, or Bungo, in 
1820, an interpreter for Gov. Cass, on his visit to the upper 
Mississippi, and another Bonga, an interpreter at the treaty 
with the Chippeways in 1837, at Fort Snelling, 

HORSE BOUGHT WITH LIQUOR. 

'Friday, 22d * * * This afternoon the Indians brought 
me a horse, which I purchased for liquor, and about sunset 
the Indians all arrived and camped with us. Old Buffalo, still 
half drunk, brought me his eldest daughter, a girl about nine 
years of age, and would insist upon my taking her for a wife, 
in hopes I would give him a keg of liqnor, but I declined the 
offer. * * * 

A FAITHLESS WIFE TORTURED. 

" Friday, 29th, * * * In course of the night I was 
troubled by the visits of a young woman from the other side 
of the fRed] river, which was nearly an ugly affair. About 
10 o'clock she came into my tent, without any solicitation on 
my part. She awoke me and asked for liquor. I knew her 
voice, and that her husband was the greatest scoundrel among 
all the Indians present, and exceedingly jealous. I therefore 
advised her to return instantly over the river to her husband, 
that he might not perceive that she had been here. She re- 
quested a dram, although she was sober. I offered her a little 
pure liquor, which she refused, telling me she wanted Augne- 
manebane. I was obliged to open my case, and give her a 
glass of strong French brandy, which I made her swallow at 
one draught, but whether it actually suffocated her, or whether 



A DEGRADED INDIAN WOMAN. 875 

it was through affectation, she fell down and to all appearances 
seemed and lay like a corpse. 

u I was anxious to get her away, but all my endeavors were 
in vain. It was totally dark and I began to believe her dead. 
I thought to draw her to the tent door and wake up my ser- 
vant, whom I desired to assist. I sent him for a bottle of 
water, which I poured over her head, while he held her up; a 
second bottle was applied in the same manner, but to no pur- 
pose. I was very uneasy, and sent for a third bottle, the con- 
tents of which, dashed in her face with all my strength, when 
she groaned and then began to speak. 

" I lost no time, but sent my man to conduct her away. In 
about a half hour she returned, having changed her clothes, 
and now was dressed very fine; her husband being an excellent 
hunter and had no children, she had always a superabundance 
of finery. She now told me, in plain terms, that she had left 
her husband and came to live with me. This was a piece of 
news I neither expected nor wished. I represented to her the 
impropriaty in doing so; her husband was fond of her and 
jealous in the extreme. 

" Her answer was that she did not care for her husband, nor 
any other Indian, that she was fully determined to remain 
with me at the risk of her life. Just at this moment I heard 
a great bustle on the other side of the river, and the Indians 
bawling out to take care, that we were going to be fired on ; 
when, instantly, the flash of a gun was seen, but it appeared 
to have missed fire. I had no doubt the woman was the cause, 
and I insisted upon her return to her husband, but she would 
not go. I observed that the men had now made up a fire, 
when I called my servant man. I desired him to conduct her 
to the fire. This he did, much against his inclination. He 
had then the good luck to get her on board of a canoe that 
was crossing. 

" I was informed that the noise we heard on the other side 
was occasioned by the husband having notice of his wife's in- 
tention, had determined to fire at my tent. On his wife's re- 
turn he asked her where she had been. She made no secret 
of the matter, but said she was determined to go along with 



876 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

me. "Well, then/' said he, if you are determined upon leaving 
me, I wiil at least have the satisfaction of spoiling your pretty 
face!" He instantly caught up a large fire-brand, threw her 
upon her back, and held it to her face, rubbing with all his 
might until the fire extinguished, then letting her go. "Now," 
says he, "go and see your beloved, and ask him if he likes you 
as well ae he did before." I am told that her face was in a 
most horrid condition. I am sorry for it. She was really the 
handsomest woman of the River, and not more than eighteen 
years of age." 

On the 3d of September, leaving half of his goods with M. 
Langlois, Mr. Henry went up to the Red River, accompanied 
by Desmarrais, Bellagard, Roger, Benoit, La Rocque, Beauch- 
man, Le France, Barbe, Charbonneau, McDonnell, Parais 
[Pierre Bonga, negro ?J In his journal he writes under date 
of 

"September 5th, Friday: Early this morning I sent off 
the canoes, when Desmarrais and myself proceeded by land. 
We came to Pambian [Pembina] River and crossed over 

OLD FORT 

to the old fort which was built in 1797-8 by M. Chabouiller, 
opposite the entrance of the Red River. On the east side 
of the Red River are the ruins of the old fort, built by Mr. 
Peter Grant some years ago, and was the first established 
upon Red River. * * * * 

BUFFALO CROSSING AND TRAIL, 

" September 6th. —At the Bois Perie, near where we are en- 
camped, has been a great crossing for many years. The 
ground on both sides is beaten as hard as a pavement and the 
numerous roads leading to the river, a foot deep, are surpris- 
ing, and when I consider the hard sod through which these 
tracks are beaten, I am entirely at a loss and bewildered in 
attempting to form any idea of the numerous herds of buffalo 
which must have passed here. * * * * 

" Monday, 8th. — At 8 o'clock sent the canoes off, while Des- 
marrais and myself hurried off on horseback. We saw here 
the buffalo, all in motion, crossing from the east to west side, 



FORT BUILT AT PARK RIVER, 877 

directing their course to the Hair Hills. We chased several 
herd, and had fine sport, hut killed only two tat cows, and 
took a small load down to the river, for the canoes to take in 
as they passed. 

" Here I lost one of my spurs. Having brought the meat 
near the river, we set out and did not stop until we reached 
the Park River, at 2 o'clock. 

POST AT PARK RIVER. 

" We tied our horses at the entrance to the little river, and 
went out to search for a proper spot to build, as the Indians 
would not ascend the Red River any higher. My men also 
began to murmur very much, and even Desmarrais. who is an 
old veteran, one of the first who ever came up this river. 

"We went up the river about a mile and attempted to drink, 
but found the water a perfect brine. * * * * I now find 
it impossible to build here, even if the wood had been proper. 

" Tuesday, 9th. — Early this morning I went out in search 
of a proper place to build. I found none so well situated for 
defense, and wood at hand, as a point of woods on the west 
side [of the Red River], within a quarter of a mile of the lit- 
tle [Park] river, a beautiful level plain which divides us from 
that river. 

A NOSE BITTEN" OFF. 

"December 19th, * * * Some of the Red Lake Indians 
having been here and traded for some liquor, which they took 
to their camp, a quarrel arose among them, when Cantoquince 
jumped upon Terre Grasse, and bit his nose off close to his 
face. It was some time before the piece could be found. At 
last, by tumbling the straw about, it was found and applied to 
the face in the best manner that drunken people could do, and 
a bandage tied over it, in the hopes it would grow again. The 
quarrel proceeded from jealousy. * * * 

11 December 21st. Sunday. Sent off two men with an Indian 
to take a stallion and a mare to the Red Lake, and from thence 
M. Cadotte will forward them to Rainy Lake, to Mr. Grant. 
They are both in high order, and no sore back. 

" December 26th. Very cold. The Crow [a Chippeway] in 
with his brother Charlo, lying in a traville at the point of 
death. 



878 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

HORRID AFFAIR AT RED LAKE. 

"December 28th. I sent two men to make salt near the en- 
trance of the little river. I was informed of a most cruel 
affair which happened two years ago at Red Lake. The woman 
is now here to whom the affair happened. It seems she had a 
young Indian for her husband, by whom she had one child; 
but he thought proper to have two wives, and the mother ol 
the child not liking this, she left him, and joined anothei 
camp, where she soon took another husband. Not many days 
after the two camps were at the same place, and a drinking 
match occurred. The first husband went to his rival, and 
insisted upon having his child, and telling him he might keep 
the woman, as he did not care for her. They were both known 
scoundrels. The child was not many months old. The fathei 
caught hold of one of its legs, saying he would have him, and 
the second husband of the woman canght hold of the other 
leg, saying he should not take him away. Suddenly the father 
gave a jerk, and, the other resisting, the child was torn asunder. 

AN EFFEMINATE MAN. 

"January 2, 1801. — Beardash, a son of Sucrie, arrived here 
from the Assinboine River, where he had been in company 
with a young man to carry tobacco. This person is a curious 
compound. He is a man in every respect, both as to courage 
and dress and manners. His walk and mode of sitting down, 
his manners and occupations and language are those of a wo- 
man. All the persuasiveness of his father, who is a great 
chief among the Saulteaux, cannot induce him to behave like 
a man. About a month ago, in a drinking match, he got into 
a quarrel, and had one of his eyes knocked out with a club. 
He is very fleet, and a few years ago was reckoned the best 
runner among the Saulteaux. 

A RUNNING FIGHT. 

u Both his fleetness and courage were fully put to the test a 
few years ago on the banks of the Schain (Cheyenne), when 
Monsieur Reaume attempted to make peace. He accompa- 
nied a party of Saulteux to the Scieux camp. They at first 
appeared reconciled to each other, through the intercession 



A RACE FOR LIFE. 879 

of the white people, but on the return of the Saulteux the 
Scieux pursued them. Both parties were on foot, and the 
Scieux had the name of beiug very swift. The Saulteux very 
imprudently dispersed themselves in the open plains and sev- 
eral of them were killed, but the party in which Beardash 
was, all escaped without any accident, in the following man- 
ner: 

" One of them had a bow which he got from the Scieux, but 
only a few arrows. On their first starting and finding they 
were pursued, they ran a considerable distance, until they 
perceived the Scieux were gaining fast, when Beardash took 
the bow and arrows from his comrades and told them to run 
as fast as possible and not to mind him, as he apprehended 
no danger. 

" He then stopped and turned about and faced the enemy 
and began to let fly his arrows. This checked their course 
and they returned the compliment with interest, but he says 
it was nothing, but only long shot, and only a chance arrow 
could have hurt him. 

" They had nearly lost their strength when they drew near 
him. His own stock was soon expended, but he lost no time 
in gathering up those of the enemy which fell near him. 
Seeing his friends at some distance ahead, and the Sioux mov- 
ing to surround him, he turued about and ran away to join 
his comrades, the Sioux hard after him. Beardash again 
stopped, faced them and with his bow and arrow kept them 
at bay until his friends got away a considerable distance, 
when he again ran off to join them. Thus did he continue 
to maneuvre and keep them at bay, until a spot of strong 
woods was reached, and the Sioux did no longer follow." 

A portrait of the Chief Sucrie appears in McKenney & 
Hall's North American Indians, and it is there stated that his 
singular son was killed while on a war expedition. 

" January 7. My two men returned from Red Lake, having 
got safely through with the horses in eight days. They were 
forwarded immediately to Rainy Lake. * * * 

"17th. We had a terrible snow storm. I can now, daily 
count from the top of my oak tree, from twenty to thirty 



880 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



BUFFALO ABUNDANT. 



herds of buffalo feeding out on the plains. It is surprising 
how the cow buffalo resist the cold, piercing north winds 
which at times blow with such violence over these bleak plains, 
which causes such a drift that it is impossibte to face it for 
any time. Still these animals will stand grazing in the open 
field. 

" February 20th, * * * A party of Red Lake Indians and 
a considerable number of Saulteux, are decamping for Red 
Lake, to prepare for sugar season, which generally commences 
about the latter end of March. * * * 

"April 1st, Wednesday. The river clear of ice, but the 
drowned buffalo continue to drift down by entire herds. Sev- 
eral of them were lodged upon the banks of the river near the 
fort. The Indian women have cut up some of the fattest for 
their own use. The flesh appears to be fresh and good. It 
really is astonishing what vast quantities must have perished, 
as they form one continual line in the middle of the river for 
two days aud two nights." 

On the 4th of May, 1801, Mr. Henry began his voyage down 
to Grand Portage on Lake Superior with the winter's hunt, 
and that day sent off three canoes, with forty-five packs of 
ninety pounds each. On the 15th he planted a garden on the 
north side of the Pambian (Pembina) River, where he estab- 
lished a new post, at a point between the stream and the Red 
River, and slept that night in the old fort on the south side- 
On the 29th he proceeded on his journey, leaving M. Langlois 
as trader, Desmarrais in charge of the garden and horses, Le 
Diec, Raimville and others in constructing a new post here* 
He did not return to Pembina until September. The extracts 
from his journal are contiuued: 

"On the 15th of September, I arrived at the Pambian 
River, and found everything in order at my camp, and sixty 
Saulteux camped. My canoes arrived some time before, and 
the Indians anxiously awaited my arrival to taste the new milk 
which they generally call rum. 



FIRST RED RIVER CART. 881 

INTENTION OF RED RIVER CARTS. 

" September 20. We now have a sort of cart which facili- 
tates our transportation very much. They are about four feet 
high and perfectly straight, the spokes being placed perpen- 
dicular without the least leaning outwards, and only four in 
each wheel; these carts will convey about five pieces and each 
drawn by one horse. * * * 

11 October 27. Sucrie and ten other Indians from Leech 
Lake, Connoyer of X. Y., started off to build near M, Langlois. 

CHEAP LABOR. 

14 November 26. One of my men who was much in debt to 
the Compan3 r offered me his services as long as he could per- 
form any duty, on condition that I would clothe, and allow 
him to take a woman he had fallen in love with. As for him- 
self he wished nothing but dressed leather to make shirts, 
capote and trousers all the year round, and a small quantity 
of tobacco. He is a stout, able young man. This proposal 
did not much surprise me, having seen others of these people 
as foolish as he, who would not hesitate in signing an agree- 
ment of perpetual bondage on condition of our permitting 
them to have an Indian woman who struck their fancy. 

"Neither of my neighbors have a horse. All their trans- 
portation is on the men's backs. The Hudson Bay Company 
people started to build at the Grand Passage on the Pambian 
River. I sent off to the Hair Hills for white earth to white- 
wash my houses, there being none nearer to the Red River. 
* * * 

"May 5, 1802. — I sent M. Cadotte with a man for Riviere 
aux isle de bois, with one of our new carts. This invention 
is worth four horses to us, as it would require five horses to 
briug as much on their backs as one horse will bring in one 
of these carts. * * * * 

INVITATION DECLINED. 

" May 12. — Beau Pere [an Indian] was anxious I should 
take his second daughter, saying one woman was not suffi- 
cient for a chief ; that all great men should have a plurality 

56 



HISTOKY OF MINNESOTA. 

of wives, the more the better ; provided, they were all of the 
same family. In this he had given me a striking example, 
as he had three sisters at that time. * * * * 

May 21. — Mr. Cameron arrived from Red Lake with a 
cargo of sugar. 

June 7. — There arrived twenty Indian canoes from Red 
Lake with furs and sugar. 

''During this month he made his usual visit to Lake Supe- 
rior, and on the 3d of July arrived at Kamanistiquia, and 
found two sail vessels, the Otter and the Invincible, unload- 
ing supplies which they had brought for Sault St. Marie, and 
brick kilns burning, in charge of R. McKenzie, for the erec- 
tion of the new post, Fort William in compliment to William 
McGillivray. On the 29th day of July, 1802, he began the 
return voyage with eight canoes, each containing twenty- 
six pieces, by way of the Grand Portage, and arrived, on the 
27th of August, at Pembina. In his journal he writes: 

"August 27. — Early in the morning we arrived at Pambian 
River, myself very unwell, scarcely able to keep my saddle; 
found my house nearly finished. Sixty Indians camped at 
the fort waiting my arrival. Buffalo in abundance. 

October 1. — Mr. Cameron off with a boat in pursuit of X 
Y Duchaene. * * * 

October 3. — M. Langlois started for Hair Hills. 

THE FIRST RED RIVER CART TRAIN, A. D. 1802. 

" This caravan demands notice to exhibit the vast difference 
it makes in a place where horses are introduced. It is true 
they are useful animals, but if we had but one in the North- 
west we should have less laziness, for men would not be 
burdened with families, and so much given to indolence and 
insolence. * * * * But let us now take a view of the 
bustle and noise which attends the present transportation of 
five pieces of goods. The men were up at the break of day, 
and their horses tackled long before sunrise, but they were 
not in readiness to move before 10 o'clock, when I had the 
curiosity to climb up to the top of my house to examine the 
movements and observe the order of march. 

Anthony Payet, guide, and second in command, leads off. 



RED RIVER TRAIN. 883 

with a cart drawn by two horses, and loaded with his own 
private baggage, casse-tetes, bags and kettles. 

Madame Payet follows the cart with a child one year old 
on her back, any very merry. 

C. Bottineau, with two horses and a cart loaded with one 
and a half packs, his own baggage, two young children, with 
kettles and other trash hanging to his cart. 

Madame Bottineau with a young squalling child on her 
back, with she scolding it and tossing it about. 

Joseph Dubord goes on foot, with his long pipestem and 
calumet in his hand. 

Madame Dubord follows her husband, carrying his tobacco 
pouch. 

Anthony Thelliere, with a cart and two horses loaded with 
one and a half packs of goods and Dubord's baggage. 

Anthony La Point, with another cart and two horses loaded 
with two pieces of goods and baggage belonging to Brisbois, 
Jessemin and Poulliote, and a kettle suspended on each side. 

Mr. Jessemin goes next to Brisbois with gun, and pipe in 
his mouth, puffing out clouds of smoke. 

Mr. Poulliote, the greatest smoker in the Northwest, has 
nothing but pipes and pouch. These three fellows, having 
taken the farewell dram and lighting fresh pipes, go on, 
brisk and merry, playing numerous pranks. 

Dom. Livermore, with a young mare, the property of M. 
Langlois, loaded with weeds for smoking, and an old Indian 
bag, Madame's property, and some squashes and potatoes, and 
a small keg of fresh water and two young whelps. 

Next comes the young horse of Livermore, drawing a tra- 
ville with his baggage, and a large worsted mashqueucate 
belonging to Madame Langlois. 

Next appears Madame Cameron's young mare, kicking and 

roaring and , hauling a traville which was loaded with 

a bag of flour and some cabbage, turnips, onions, a small keg 
of water and a large bottle of broth. 

M. Langlois, who is master of the band, now comes, lead- 
ing a horse that draws a traville nicely covered with a new 
painted tent, under which is lying his daughter and Mrs. 



884 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Cameron extended full length, and very sick. This covering 
or canopy has a pretty effect. 

Madame Langlois now brings up the rear, following the tra- 
ville with a slow step and melancholy air, attending to the 
wants of her daughter, who, notwithstanding her sickness, 
can find no other terms for expressing her gratitude to her 
parents than by calling them dogs, fools and beasts. 

The rear guard consisted of a long train of dogs, twenty in 
number. The whole forms a string nearly a mile long, and 
appears like a large band of Assineboines." 

Three days after the departure from Pembina, two men 
returned with the dead body of Mrs, Cameron, who died on 
the 5th of October at the Grand Passage, and on the 9th she 
was buried at the post. 

PRODUCTS OF POST GARDEN. 

"October 16. Hesse arrived in a small canoe from Red Lake. 

18th. * * * Note of my vegetables gathered from the 
post garden, 300 head cabbages, 8 bushels carrots, 16 bushels 
of onions, 10 of turnips, and some beets and parsnips. 

20th. I took in my potatoes, 420 bushels from 7 bushels of 
seed. The circumference of one onion was 22 inches, of a car- 
rot 18 inches long, and the upper end 14 inches in circum- 
ference. A turnip with the leaves weighs 25 pounds, and 15 
without. 

A MARE FOR A WIFE. 

u Livermo;s exchanged his mare for a young wife about eight 
years of age. This is a common circumstance in the North- 
West to give a horse for a woman. 

Caravan below at Riviere aux Marais near Park River. 

a trader's death. 

"December 24, 1803. — I set out early with horse and carriole, 
Lambert also in the same manner, on a visit to Mr. Cotton at 
the Riverie aux Liards with the Riviere Lac Rouge [Red Lake J, 
that establishment being under my direction. I arrived at 
Mr. Cotton's; he was unwell. I asked him to give me a guide, 
but he prefers to accompany me, having already been there. 



DEATH OF TRADER CAMERON. 885 

27th. At Cotton's house. X. Y. Stit opposes him, the most 
filthy house and wife I ever saw having gone out to see him- 
Settled with two men to pass the summer at Red Lake and 
build a fort. 

29th. Cameron too sick to leave. He cried when I bid him 
good-hye. . 

31st. Returned to River aux Marais. 

January 1, 1804. — Sunday. — We kept but a gloomy and dull 
New Year. I gave charge of the place to Cadotte until Mr. 
Cameron returned. 

2nd. Before daybreak I set off with my horse and carriole. 
Arrived at my fort at 4 o'clock. 

6th. Le Grace arrived from Riviere aux Liards with news 
of Mr. Cameron's death. He expired on the 3d instant at 7 
p. m. while sitting on a stool. He suddenly fell on his face 
upon the floor and died instantly, without uttering a word. 
7th. Long before day I was off on the way to the Little 
River aux Marais, and was obliged to walk and run to prevent 
being frozen to death. At 2 o'clock I got there. 

8th. I despatched three men with a train and six dogs, for 
the corpse. * * * 

10th. We arrived at Park River with the corpse stretched 
out in a train and wrapped up in a R. S. tent, and two parch- 
ment skins. They had attempted to bring it in a coffin, but 
it was too broad for a train. 

'This was a melancholy day for us all, and cast a gloom 
throughout the fort. M. Langlois had just arrived from his 
place, and was just sitting down to his dinner when the corpse 
was announced. What a sudden change! Only a few da}\s 
ago he was merry and cheerful, and as we were riding along, 
cracking his jokes. Little did we believe he was near his end, 
and now he lies stretched out, a corpse of solid ice. Poor fel- 
low! he was a good natured, inoffensive and sober young man. 
16th. Having a coffin made we buried him by the side of 
his deceased wife. * * * 

"February 22d. 1801. 1 sent off Mr. Hesse and wife for Red 
Lake, to bring down sugar and bark. * * * 



886 . HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



A DRUNKEN FIGHT. 



"May 6th. Engaged my men; settled their accounts, giving 
them a treat of high wines. They were soon merry, then 
quarreled and fought. I saw four battles at the same moment, 
and soon after nothing was to be seen but bloody noses, black 
eyes, bruised faces, and torn sacks. 

He then proceeded on his annual trip to Lake Superior, and 
meeting W. McKay the arrived on the 25th of June, 1804, at 
Kamanistiguia. Upon his return he wrote, under date of 

JOSEPH RAINVILLE. 

"August 19th. I arrived at the forks, and heard of the death 
of Venant St. Germain at the Pembina River, where he was 
shot by Joseph RainviHe in July last. It was entirely an ac- 
cident, and happened in the following manner: 

A TRADER ACCIDENTALLY SHOT. 

I had left the deceased to pass the summer at Portage les 
Prairie. He was on a visit to Pembina River, and one day, 
while there, he was fixing his saddle, and for that purpose, 
climbed up into a sort of half garret that was made over the 
men's bed-rooms in the Indians 1 nail, and was searching for 
some necessary material, when, just as he was in the act of 
coming down, Rainville came in. They had been much given 
to play and joke with each other, and Rainville said, "If I 
were to bring your carcass down, like a bear, upon the floor. 11 
The other retorted jocularly. Rainville was a miserable 
marksman, and he took down an old gun that belonged to 
him, and was then hanging in the room, where it had been 
since last winter, and taking aim, pulled the trigger, when, to 
his great astonishment, the gun went off, and the ball entered 
the left side of St. Germain, below the ribs, and came out on 
the right side under the arm. He came down very composedly 
saying, " You have killed me," and expired in about four hours. 
This young man was an apprentice clerk to the North - West 
Company, and the son of Joseph St. Germain of Isle of Jesus, 
near Montreal. 11 



A SHARP CONFLICT. 887 

BATTLE BETWEEN SIOUX AND CHIPPEWAYS. 

Early in August, 1805, upon his return from his annual 
voyage to Lake Superior, he heard of a conflict between the 
Sioux and Chippeways. He writes in his journal: 

" I received the unwelcome news of the Scieux having fallen 
upon a small camp of our Indians at Tongue River, not many 
miles from the fort, on the 3d of July. Fourteen persons, 
men, women and children, were killed or taken prisoners. My 
beau pere was the first man that fell. He had climbed up a 
tree to look out if the buffalo was near, about 8 o'clock in the 
morning. He had no sooner reached the top of the tree when 
the two Scieux who lay near, each discharged their guns, and 
the balls passed through his body. He had only time to call 
out to his family who were in the tent, about one hundred 
paces from him, ' Save yourselves, the Scieux are killing us/ 
and fell dead to the ground. 

"The noise brought the Indians out of their tents, and 
perceiving their danger, ran through the open plains toward 
an open island of wood, in Tongue Riyer, about a mile dis- 
tant. They had not gone more than one-fourth of a mile, 
when they saw the main party on horseback, crossing the 
Tongue River, and in a few moments they began to fire. 
The four men, by their expert manoeuvres and incessant fire, 
kept them in awe until they were two hundred paces from 
the woods, when the enemy, perceiving their prey ready to 
escape, surrounded and rushed upon them. 

k, Three of the Saulteux fled in a different direction; one 
escaped, but the other two were killed. He that remained to 
protect the women and children was a brave fellow, Angue- 
mance. or Little Chief. When the enemy was rushing upon 
them, he waited very deliberately, when he aimed at one com- 
ing full speed, and knocked him from his horse. Three 
young girls and one boy were taken prisoners, and the rest 
were all murdered and cut up in the most horrible manner. 
Several women and children had made their escape to the 
woods. The enemy chased them, but the willows were so 
thick they were saved. A boy of about twelve years of age 
savs that a SHpux. bpins: in pursuit of him, he crossed into a 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

low, hidden place, under a bunch of willows, and the horse- 
man leaped over without perceiving him. 

a mother's devotion to a child. 

"One of the little girls tells a pitiful story of her mother 
who was killed. She says that her mother haying two chil- 
dren who could not walk fast enough, had taken one upon her 
back and prevailed upon her sister to carry the other, but 
when they got near the woods, the enemy rushing upon them 
and yelling, the young woman was so frightened that she 
threw down the child, and soon overtook the mother, who, 
observing the child was missing, and hearing it screaming* 
kissed the little daughter, who tells the story, and said: "As 
for me, I will return for j 7 our younger sister and rescue her, or 
die in the attempt; take courage, run fast, my daughter." 

"Poor woman! She rescued the chiid and was running off, 
when she was arrested by a blow with a war-club. She fell 
to the ground, but drew her knife and plunged it into the 
neck of her murderer; others coming up, she was soon des- 
patched. Thus my belle mere ended her days. 

a visit to the battlefield. 

"The survivors having reached the fort, my people went out 
the next day to the field. A horrid spectacle! My beau pere 
had his head severed from his body, even with the shoulders; 
his right arm cut off, his left foot, also his right leg from the 
knee stripped of the skin. The bodies of the women and 
children all lay within a few yards of each other. Angue- 
mance lay near his wife. The enemy had raised his scalp, cut 
the flesh from the bone, and broke away the skull to make a 
water dish. Only the trunk remained, with the belly and 
breast ripped up and thrown over the face. [Delicacy pre- 
vents the printing of a portion of the description.] 

"His wife also was cut up and butchered in a shocking man- 
ner, and her young children had been cut up and thrown 
about in different directions. All the bodies were covered 
with arrows sticking in them, many old knives, two or three 
broken guns, and some war-clubs. 

"On my arrival home all was grief. * * * The next day 
1 went out with M. Langlois to view the battlefield. * * 






A SAD DUTY. 889 

I gathered up the bones of my belle mere in a handkerchief. 
We followed the Scieux road until we came to a place where 
they had stopped. We found their camp very extensive, and 
by the number of small pointed sticks we judge the party to 
have consisted of three hundred men and a great number of 
horses. I remained at the Pambian River until the 10th of 
August. 

NEWS OF LIEUTENANT PIKE, U. S. A. 

"January 13, 1806. Contoquoince arrived from afar, and in- 
formed us that the Americans have landed at Leech Lake a 
party of soldiers, but he did not know the particulars. Pish- 
anobay pushed on his way to Otter Tail Lake. 

"March 13. Koille and Descarros arrived from Leech Lake 
with letters from Hugh McGillis, informing us of a party of 
American soldiers having arrived at his place in February last* 
commanded by Lieut. Pike. Their headquarters was at Du 
Corbeau, and their errand was to oblige us to pay the usual 
duties at Mackinaw. 

April 11. L. Hiver hamstrung his young wife to prevent 
her gossipping about. The rascal cut both tendons of the 
heel with a knife. 

May 23. William Henry [a brother] arrived from Leech 
Lake with a cargo of sugar. 

18th. Red Lake band arrived. Le Grande Noir and his son- 
in-law, who killed one oi our men at Red Lake last spring, is 
an American named Hughs." 

VISIT TO THE MANDANS. 

In July, 1806, Alexander Henry and his brother William 
with two men and a horse, left Pembina for the Missouri. A 
Mr. Darwin was found at Lake Platz. Passing old Fort de 
Tremple, he crossed the Assinnibone River and at length 
reached the Missouri and visited a Mandan village where 
earthen pots were made from black clay, and buffalo shoulder 
blades served as hoes. 

HOUSES LIKE MOLEHILLS. 

Eight hundred huts built of mud looked like molehills 
From the Mandans he went to Gros Ventres. He was fifteen 



890 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

days in returning to Pembina. After this he was sent to the 
Athabasca district and for a time traveled with the geographei 
David Thompson. 

ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 

Franchere in his "Narrative" mentions that on the 15th oi 
November, 1813, Alexander Stuart and Alexander Henry, 
both parties of the North- West Company, arrived at Astoria 
on the Columbia, with two bark canoes manned by sixteen 
voyageurs, and that he had left the extremity ot Lake Superior 
in the middle of July. They brought Canadian papers with 
the news that war had been declared. On the 7th of Febru- 
ary, 1814, Franchere went to the establishment in charge of 
Alex. Henry on the Willamette River. It is said Mr. Henry 
was afterwards drowned in the waters of the Columbia. 



APPENDIX L. PAGE 321. 

EARLY DAYS IN AND AROUND FORT SNELLING. 

On Wednesday, the last day of June, 1819, Col. Leaven- 
worth and troops arrived from Green Bay, at Prairie du 
Chien. Scarcely had they reached this point when Charlotte 
Seymour, the wife of Lieut. Nathan Clark , a native of Hart- 
ford, Ct., gave birth to a daughter, whose first baptismal 
name was Charlotte, after her mother, and the second, Ouis- 
consin, given by the officers in view of the fact that she was 
born at the junction of that stream with the Mississippi. 

In time, Charlotte Ouisconsin married a young Lieutenant, 
a native of Princeton, New Jersey, and a graduate of West 
Point, and still resides with her husband, General H. P. Van 
Cleve, in the City of Minneapolis, living to do good as she 
has opportunity. 

In June, under instructions from the War Department, 
Major Thomas Forsyth, connected with the office of Indian 
Affairs, left St. Louis with two thousand dollars worth of 
goods to be distributed among the Sioux Indians, in accord- 
ance with the agreement of 1805, referred to on page 244, 
with the late General Pike. 



TROOPS ARRIVE AT MESTDOTA. 891 

About nine o'clock of the morning of the fifth of July, he 
joined Leavenworth and his command, at Prairie du 
Chien. Some time was occupied awaiting the arrival of ord- 
nance, provisions and recruits, but on Sunday morning, the 
eighth of August, about eight o'clock, the expedition set out 
for the point now known as Mendota. The flotilla was quite 
imposing; there were the Colonel's barge, fourteen batteaux 
with ninety-eight soldiers and officers, two large keel or 
Mackinaw boats, filled with various stores, and Forsyth's keel 
boat, containing goods and presents for the Indians. On the 
twenty- third of August, Forsyth reached the mouth of the 
Minnesota with his boat, and the next morning Col. Leaven_ 
worth arrived, and selecting a place at Mendota, near the 
present railroad bridge, he ordered the soldiers to cut down 
trees and make a clearing. On the next Saturday Col. Leav- 
enworth, Major Yose, Surgeon Purcell, Lieutenant Clarke, 
and the wife of Captain Gooding, visited the Falls of Saint 
Anthony with Forsyth, in the keel boat of the last. 

Early in September two more boats and a batteaux, with 
officers and one hundred and twenty recruits, arrived, 

FIRST SCHOOLMASTER. 

The first schoolmaster of the post was John Marsh. He is 
said to have been a college graduate, and accompanied the 
first troops to the mouth of the Minnesota River. In time 
he became a trader's clerk, and afterward a sub Indian agenti 
and justice of the peace for Crawford County, Minnesota. In 
1832. during the Black Hawk War, he ascended the Missis- 
sipi and secured the services of about eighty Sioux, and 
accompanied them, as interpreter, to the army of General 
Atkinson, but they soon returned. 

EVENTS OF 1820. 

The relations between Colonel Leavenworth and the Indian 
Agent Taliaferro were not entirely harmonious, growing out of 
a disagree xent of views relative to the treatment of the Indians, 
and on the day of the arrival of Governor Cass, in July, 1820, 
Taliaferro wrote to Leavenworth: 

" As it is now understood that I am agent for Indian affairs 
in this country, and you are about to leave the upper Missis- 



892 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

sippi, in all probability in the course of a month or two, [ beg 
leave to suggest, for the sake of a general understanding with 
the Indian tribes of this country, that any medals, you may 
possess, by being turned over to me, ceases to be a topic 
of remark among the different Indian tribes under my direc 
tion. I will pass to you any voucher that may be required, 
and I beg leave to observe that my progress in influence is 
much injured in consequence of this frequent intercourse 
with the government." 

In a few days, the disastrous effect of Indians mingling 
with the soldiers was exhibited. On the 3d of August the 
agent wrote to Leavenworth: 

" His Excellency, Governor Cass, during a visit to this post 
remarked to me that the Indians in this quarter were spoiled, 
and at the same time said they should not be permitted to en- 
ter the camp. An unpleasant affair has lately taken place; I 
mean the stabbing of the old chief Mahgossan by his com- 
rade. This was caused, doubtless, by an anxiety to obtain the 
chief's whiskey, I beg, therefore, that no whiskey whatever 
be given to any Indians, unless it be through their proper 
agent. While an overplus of whiskey thwarts the beneficent 
and humane policy of the government, it entoils misery upon 
the Indians, and endangers their lives." 

A few days after this note was written Josiah Snelling, re- 
cently promoted to the Colonelcy of the Fifth Regiment, ar- 
rived with his family, relieved Leavenworth, and infused new 
life and energy. A little while before his arrival, the daughter 
of Captain Gooding was married to Lieutenant Green, the 
Adjutant of the regiment, the first marriage of white persons 
in Minnesota. Mrs. Snelling, a few days after her arrival, 
gave birth to a daughter, the first white child born in Minne- 
sota, and after a brief existence of thirteen months, she died 
and was the first interred in the military grave yard, and 
the stone which marks its resting place is visible. 

The earliest manuscript in Minnesota, written at the Can- 
tonment, is dated 4, 1820, and is in the handwriting of Colonel 
Snelling. It reads: u In justice to Lawrence Taliaferro, Esq., 
Indian Agent at this post, we, the undersigned officers of the 
Fifth Regiment here stationed, have presented him this paper 



BUILDING OF THE FORT. 893 

as a token, not only of our individual respect and esteem, but 
as an entire approval of his conduct and deportment as a pub- 
lic agent in this quarter. Given at St. Peter this 4th day of 
October, 1820. 

J. Spelling, Col. 5th Inf. N. Clark, Lieutenant. 

S. Burbank, Br. Major. Jos. Hare, Lieutenant. 

David Perry, Captain. Ed. Purcell, Surgeon. 

D. Gooding, Br. Captain. P. R. Green", Lt. and Adjt. 

J. Plympton, Lieutenant. W. G. Camp, Lt. and Q. M. 

R. A. McCabe, Lieut. H. Wilkins. Lieutenant." 

During the summer of 1820, a party of the Sisseton Sioux 
killed on the Missouri, lsadore Poupon, a half-breed, and 
Joseph Andrews, a Canadian engaged in the fur trade. The 
Indian Agent, through Colin Campbell, as interpreter, notified 
the Sissetons that trade would cease with them, until the 
murderers were delivered. At a council held at Big Stone 
Lake, one of the murderers, and the aged father of another, 
agreed to surrender themselves to the commanding officer. 
On the three hundred and twenty-ninth page is an account 
of the delivery of the hostages at the fort. 

Col. Snelling built the fort in the shape of a lozenge, in 
view of the projection between the two wings. The first 
row of barracks was ©f hewn logs, obtained from the pine 
forests of Rum River, but the other buildings were of stone. 
Mrs. Van Cleve, the daughter of Lieutenant, afterwards Cap- 
tain Clark, writes: 

"In 1821 the fort, although not complete, was fit for occu- 
pancy. My father had assigned to him the quarters next 
beyond the steps leading to the Commissary's stores, and 
during the year my little sister Juliet was born there. At a 
later period my father and Major Garland obtained permission 
to build more commodious quarters outside the walls, and the 
result was the two stone houses afterward occupied by the 
Indian Agent and interpreter, lately destroyed. 1 ' 

Early in August, a young and intelligent mixed blood, 
Alexis Bailly, in after years a member of the legislature of 
Minnesota, left the cantonment with the first drove of cattle 
for the Selkirk Settlement, and the next winter returned 



894 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

with Col. Robert Dickso* and Messrs. Laidlow and Macken- 
zie. 

The next month a party of Sissetoans visited the Indian 
Agent, and told him that they had started with another of 
the murderers, to which reference has been made, but that on 
the way he had, through fear of being hung, killed himself. 

This fall a mill was constructed for the use of the garrison 
on the west side of St. Anthony Falls, under the supervision 
of Lieut. McCabe. During the fall, George Gooding, Captain 
by brevet, resigned, and became Sutler at Prairie du Chien. 
He was a native of Massachusetts, and entered the army as 
ensign in 1808. In 1810 he became a Second Lieutenant, and 
the next year was wounded at Tippecanoe. 

In the middle of October, there embarked on the keel-boat 
*' Saucy Jack," for Prairie du Chien, Col. Snelling, Lieut. 
Baxley, M^jor Taliaferro, and Mre. Gooding. 

Early in January, 1882, there came to the Fort from the 
Red River of the North, Col. Robert Dickson, Laidlow, a 
Scotch farmer, the superintendent of Lord Selkirk's experi- 
mental farm, and one Mackenzie, on their way to Prairie du 
Chien, Dickson returned with a drove of cattle, but owing 
to the hostility of the Sieux his cattle were scattered, and 
never reached Pembina. 

During the winter of 1823, Agent Taliaferro was in Wash- 
ington. While returning in March, he was at a hotel in 
Pittsburg, when he received a note signed G. C. Beltrami, 
who was an Italian exile, asking permission to accompany 
him to the Indian Territory. He was tall and commanding 
in appearance, and gentlemanly in bearing, and Taliaferro 
was so forcibly impressed as to accede to the request. After 
reaching Saint Louis they embarked on the first steamboat 
for the upper Mississippi, an account of whose arrival is on 
the 336th page. 

FIRST FLOUR MILL. 

The mill which was constructed in 1821, for sawing lum- 
ber, at the Falls of Saint Anthony, stood upon the site of the 
Holmes and Sidle Mill, iu Minneapolis, and in 1823 was fitted 
up for grinding flour. The following extracts from corre- 



MILL AT ST. ANTHONY FALLS. S95 

spondence addressed to Lieut. Clark, Commissary at Fort 
Snelling, will be read with interest: 

Under the date of August 5th, 1823, General Gibson writes: 
"From a letter addressed by Col. Snelling to the Quarter- 
master General, dated the 2d of April, I learned that a large 
quantity of wheat would be raised this summer. The Assist- 
ant Commissary of Subsistence at Saint Louis has been in- 
structed to forward sickles and a pair of millstones to Saint 
Peters. If any flour is manufactured from the wheat raised, 
be pleased to let me know as early as practicable, that I may 
deduct the quantity manufactured at the post from the quan- 
tity advertised to be contracted for." 

In another letter General Gibson writes : " Below you will 
find the amount charged on the books against the garrison 
of Fort Saint Anthony, for certain articles, and forwarded 
for the use of the troops at that post, which you will deduct 
from the payments to be made for flour raised and turned 
over to you for issue: 

One pair buhr millstones $250 11 

387 pounds plaster of paris 20 22 

Two dozen sickles 18 00 

Total $288 33 

Upon the 19th of January, 1824, the General writes: ' k The 
mode suggested by Col. Snelling, of fixing the price to be 
paid the troops for the flour furnished by them is deemed 
equitable and just. You will accordingly pay for the flour 
$3.33 per barrel." 

Charlotte Ouisconsin Van Cleve, now the oldest person 
living in Minnesota who was connected with the cantonment 
in 1819, in a paper read before the Department of American 
History of the Minnesota Historical Society in January, 
1880, wrote: 

FIRST SUNDAY SCHOOL. 

"In 1823, Mrs. Snelling and my mother established the 
first Sunday School in the Northwest. It was held in the 
basement of the commanding officer's quarters, and was pro- 
ductive of much good. Many of the soldiers, with their fara- 



896 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA, 

ilies attended. Joe Brown since so well known in this coun- 
try, then a drummer boy, was one of the pupils. A Bible 
class, for the officers and their wives, was formed, and all 
became so interested in the history of the patriarchs, that it 
furnished topics of conversation for the week. One day after 
Sunday School lesson on the death of Moses, a member of 
the class meeting my mother on parade, after exchanging the 
usual greetings, said, in saddened tones, 4 But don't you feel 
sorry that Moses is dead?" 

After the Indian Agency had been established near the fort 
no person could trade with the Indians without a license from 
the agent. The licensed traders among the Sioux in 1823 
were Philander Prescott, Duncan Campbell, Ezekiel Lock- 
wood, Alexander Faribault, Daniel M. Wright, and Joseph 
Snelling, known in literature as William Joseph Snelling. 

In the year 1823, Lieut. Alexander with fourteen soldiers 
went by land to Prairie du Chien and blazed the trees on 
their route. 

FORT ST. ANTHONY CHANGED TO FORT SNELLING. 

In the year 1824 the Fort was visited by Gen. Scott on a 
tour of inspection, and at his suggestion the name was changed 
from Fort St. Anthony to Fort Snelling. The following is 
an extract of his report to the War Department: 

" This work, of which the War Department is in possession 
of a plan, reflects the highest credit on Col. Snelling. his offi- 
cers and men. The defenses, and for the most part, the public 
storehouses, shops and quarters being constructed of stone, 
the whole is likely to endure as long as the post shall remain 
a frontier one. The cost of erection to the government has 
been the amount paid for tools and iron, and the per diem 
paid to soldiers employed as mechanics. I wish to suggest to 
the General-in-Chief, and through him to the War Department, 
the propriety of calling this work Fort Snelling, as a just 
compliment to the meritorious officer under whom it has been 
erected. The present name, [Fort St. Anthony], is foreign to 
all our associations, and is, besides, geographically incorrect, 
as the work stands at the junction of the Mississippi aand St. 
Peter's [ Minnesota] Rivers, eight miles below the great falls 
of the Mississippi, called after St. Anthony." 



SIOUX GO TO WASHINGTON. b\)'l 

In 1824. Major Taliaferro proceeded to Washington with a 
delegation of Chippeways and Dahkotahs headed by Li fie 
Crow, the grandfather of the chief of the same name, who 
was engaged in the late horrible massacre of defenseless wo- 
men and children. The object of the visit was to secure a 
convocation of all the tribes of the Upper Mississippi, at' 
Prairie da Chien, to define their boundary lines and establish 
friendly relations. When they reached Prairie du Chien, 
Wahnatah, a Yankton Chief, and also Wapashaw, by the 
whisperings of mean traders, became disaffected, and wished 
to turn back. Little Crow, perceiving this, stopped all hesi- 
itancy by the following speech: "My friends, you can do as 
you please. I am no coward, nor can my ears be pulled about 
by evil councils. We are here and should go on, and do some 
good for our nation. I have taken our Father here (Talia- 
ferro) by the coat tail, and will follow him until I take by the 
hand our great American Father." 

While on board of a steamer on the Ohio River, Marcpee, 
or the Cloud, in consequence of a bad dream, jumped from 
the stern of the boat, and was supposed to be drowned, but 
he swam ashore and made his way to Saint Charles, Mo., 
there to be murdered by some Sacs. The remainder safely 
arrived in Washington and accomplished the object of the 
visit. The Dahkotahs returned by way of New York, and 
while there weie anxious to pay a visit to certain parties with 
Wm. Dickson, a half-breed son of Col. Robert Dickson, the 
trader, who in the war of 1812-15 led the Indians of the 
Northwest against the United States. 

After this visit Little Crow carried a new double-barreled 
gun, and said that a medicine man by the name of Peters 
gave it to him for signing a certain paper, and that he also 
promised he would send a keel boat full of goods to them. 
The medicine man referred to was the Rev. Samuel Peters, an 
Episcopal clergyman, who had made himself obnoxious dur- 
ing the Revolution by his tory sentiments, and was subse- 
quently nominated as Bishop of Vermont. 

Peters asserted that in 1806 he had purchased of the heirs 
of Jonathan Carver the right to a tract of land on the Upper 
57 



898 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Mississippi, embracing Saint Paul, alleged to have been given 
in 1767 to Carver by the Dahkotahs. 

The next year there arrived in one of the keel boats from 
Prairie du Chien, a box marked Col. Robert Dickson. On 
opening, it was found to contain a few presents from Peters 
to Dickson's Indian wife, a long letter, and a copy of Carver's 
alleged grant, written on parchment. 

The first U. S. officer who died at Fort Snelling was 
Edward Purcell of Virginia. He entered the service in 1813, 
as Surgeon's Mate, and in July, 1818, became Surgeon, and 
on the 11th of January, 1825, passed away. 

As early as the 8th of April, 1825, the steamboat Rufus 
Putnam reached the Fort. Four weeks later she arrived 
again, with goods for the Columbia Fur Company, and pro- 
ceeded up the Minnesota a short distance, to the trading post 
known as Land's end. 

This year was also noted for the convocation of the Indian 
tribes at Prairie du Chien. After the council was ended, 
Agent Taliaferro and delegation left in the Mackinaw boats, 
guided by eighteen voyagers. Great sickness prevailed among 
the Indians on the voyage. Before Lake Pepin was reached, 
a Sisseton Chief died. At Little Crow's village, then on the 
east side of the Mississippi, near Red Rock, the sickness had 
so increased that it was necessary to leave one of the boats, 
and on the 30th of August the party reached Fort Snelling. 
The Agent appointed Mr. Laidlow to conduct the Upper 
Minnesota Indians to their homes, but twelve died on the 
way. 

LIEUT. COL. WILL0TTGHBY MORGAN. 

In the fall of 1825, Col. Snelling obtained a furlough, and 
during his absence a Virginian, Lieut. Col. Willoughby Mor- 
gan, was in command and was much respected. Upon his 
departure, the following correspondence took place: 

Fort Snelling, (Upper Mississippi) Dec. 28, 1825. 

Sir: — We, officers of this post, on your departure from 
among us, ol testifying our respect for your character, and 
our entire satisfaction of your conduct while in command. 
We have witnessed with much satisfaction the renewal of 



LT. COL. MORGAN COMPLIMENTED. #\)y 

military discipline, when it had lor a long time been obliged 
to yield to laborious duty on the public works. 

We have seen you constantly and zealously laboring for the 
improvement of your command, uniting the urbanity of a 
gentleman with the discipline of the soldier. We tender to 
you on this occasion our sincere wishes for your prosperity 
and happiness. 

Major T. Hamilton. 

Capt. J. Plympton. 

Capt. D. Wilcox. 

Capt. N. Clark. 

Lieut. J. B. Russel. 

Adjt. P. R. Green. 

Lieut, A. Johnson. 

Surgeon B. F. Harney. 

Ass't. Surgeon R. Wood. 

Lieut. J. M. Baxley. 

Lieut. D. Hunter. 

Lieut. St. C. Denny. 

Lieut. W. Alexander. 

Lieut. D. W. Allanson. 
Lieut. Col. W. Morgan, oth Infantry. 



Gentlemen: — I have the pleasure to acknowledge the re- 
ceipt of your note of this date enclosing an address from the 
officers of this post, in which they have done me the nonor 
to express it in the most obliging terms, the very favorable 
view they have taken of the course of my command, during 
the absence of the Colonel of the Regiment. 

I esteem myself extremely happy in having been able to 
secure the approbation of the officers of this post, more es- 
pecially as I am sensible that I have sought their approbation 
in no other way than by the faithful discharge of my duty, 
the only way indeed in which the approbation of the very 
respectable and very inteligent officers of this post could 
have been obtained. 

Permit me to ask you that you will tender to them my sin- 
cere thanks, not only for the very polite address, but for the 



900 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

many civilities I have received from them during the short 
period of my command at this post. 

I experience much pleasure in being able to congratulate 
the officers in the return of the chief of the regiment after 
whom this beautiful post has been named by the Government 
To him is due the chief merit of everything which has been 
accomplished here. For myself, I am very sensible that I 
have few claims beyond these, which may be thought due to 
every officer who has faithfully discharged his duties. 

Reciprocating with utmost sincerity the kind wishes of the 
officers for my health and prosperity, I have the honor to be 
gentlemen, with unfeigned esteem and respect, 

Your obedient servant, 
W. Morgan, Lieut. Col. 

To Dr. B. F. Harney, Capt. J. Plympton, Lieut. St. C. Denny 

EVENTS OF 1826. 

During the months of February and March, 1826, snow 
fell to the depth of two or three feet, and there was great 
suffering among the Indians. On one occasion, thirty lodges 
of Sisseton and other Sioux were overtaken by a storm which 
continued for several days, and the provisions were almost 
exhausted. The stronger men, with a few pairs of snow 
shoes, started for a trading post, one hundred miles distant, 
which they reached nearly dead. Four Canadians were sent 
with supplies, and found the living feeding upon the corpses 
of their companions. A mother had eaten her dead child, 
and a portion of her father's arms. The shock to her nervous 
system was so great that she remained partially insane. Her 
name was Tashunota, and she was quite good looking. One 
day in September, 1829, while at Fort Snelling, taking him 
by the coat, she asked Captain Jouett if he knew which was 
the best portion of a human being to eat. Astonished, he re- 
plied : " No/' She then told him: " The arms," and asked 
for a piece of his servant maid, as she was nice and fat. A 
few days after this she dashed herself from the bluffs near 
Fort Snelling, into the river, and was drowned. 



IHIHAVS ATTACK KEEL BOAIS. 901 

In August. 1826, owing to the threats of Indians, Col. Snel- 
ling sent troops to re-inforce Fort Crawford, at Prairie du 
Chien, and Capt. Wilcox was placed in command. 

On the 12th of June, 1S27, the keel boats " General Ashley " 
and i% 0. H. Perry" left Prairie du Chien, bound for Fort 
Snelling, with supplies. Allen F. Lindsey was in command 
of the "Ashley," and Joseph Snelling was a passenger. The 
"Perry " was in charge of a man named Benjamin F. Thaw. 

When they approached Prairie la Crosse, a party of Win- 
nebagoes came to the "Ashley" in canoes, and were civilly 
treated. When the boats reached Wapashah's Tillage of 
Sioux, now the site ot the city of Winona, the Indians de- 
manded that they should land. They were not permitted to 
come on board the "Ashley," but about fifty, with their faces 
painted black, and streaks on their blankets, mounted the 
deck of the k> Perry," and reiused to shake hands. It was 
reported that an old Indian, named the Pine Shooter, went 
from lodge to lodge in the village, and urged the youug men 
to make an attack. As the crews of the boats were unarmed 
they were quite disturbed by these manifestations. 

When they were ready to return from the Fort, Col. Snel- 
ling furnished the boats with thirty guns, and a large keg of 
ball cartridges. In descending the river on the 27th of the 
month, the Winnebagoes came on board the "Ashley," and 
were kindly treated. They were of the party who had killed 
Gagnier, at Prairie du Chien, an account of which is given on 
the three hundred and ninety-fifth page. 

On f he 29th. the two boats again passed Wapashah's vil- 
lage, and were not molested. Daring the night the "Perry'' 
gained on the "Ashley." and the next day was several hours 
in advance. At -1 o'clock in the afternoon of this day, the 
30th, when near the mouth of the Bad Axe River, the "Perry" 
was attacked by the Winnebagoes, and fought till near sunset, 
and two of the crew were killed and four wounded. 

At midnight the "Ashley" drifted past the Indian camp 
and was fired upon, without any serious result. Joseph Snel- 
ling returned to Prairie du Chien on this boat. 

In consequence of this attack, Colonel Snelling started in 
keel boats with four companies to Fort Crawford, and on the 



902 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

17th four more companies left under Major Fowle. After an 
absence of six weeks, the soldiers, without firing a gun at the 
enemy, returned. 

A lew weeks after the attack upon the provision boats Gen* 
Gaines inspected the Fort, and, subsequently in a communi- 
cation to the War Department wrote as follows: 

" The main points of defence against an enemy appear to 
have been in some respects sacrificed, in the effort to secure 
comfort and convenience of troops in peace. These are im- 
portant considerations, but on an exposed frontier the primary 
object ought to be security against the attack of an enemy. 

" The buildings are too large, too numerous, and extending 
over a space entirely too great, enclosing a large parade, five 
times greater than is at all desirable in that climate. The 
buildings for the most part seem well constructed, of good 
stone and other materials, and they contain every desirable 
convenience, comfort and security as barracks and store houses. 

" The work may be rendered very strong and adapted to a 
garrison of two hundred men by removing one-half the build- 
ings, and with the materials of which thev are constructed, 
building a tewer sufficiently high to command the hill be- 
tween the Mississippi and St. Peter's [Minnesota], and by a 
block house on the extreme point, or brow of the cliff, near 
the commandant's quarters, to secure most effectually the 
banks of the river, and the boats at the landing. 

" Much credit is due to Colonel Snelling, his officers and 
men, for their immense labors and excellent workmanship ex- 
hibited in the construction of these barracks and store houses, 
but this has been effected too much at the expense of the dis- 
cipline of the regiment.'" 

From reports made from 1823 to 1826, the health of the 
troops was good. In the year ending September 30, 1823, 
there were but two deaths; in 1824 only six. and in 1825 but 
seven. 

In 1823 there were three desertions, in 1824 twenty-two, 
and in 1825 twenty-nine. Most of the deserters were fresh 
recruits and natives of America. Ten of the deserters were 
foreigners; and five of these were born in Ireland. In 1826 



DEATHS AND DESERTIONS. 903 

there were eight companies numbering two hundred and four- 
teen soldiers quartered in the Fort. 

DEATH OF COLONEL SNELLING. 

During the fall of 1827 the Fifth Regiment was relieved by 
a part of the First, and the next year Colonel Snelling pro- 
ceeded to Washington on business, and on the 20th of August, 
1828, died with inflammation of the brain. Major General 
Macomb announcing his death in an order, wrote: 

u Colonel Snelling joined the army in early youth. In the 
battle of Tippecanoe, he was distinguished for gallantry and 
good conduct. Subsequently and during the whole late war 
with Great Britain, from the battle of Brownstown to the 
termination of the contest, he was actively employed in the 
field, with crdit to himself, and honor to his country." 

EVENTS OF 1828. 

On the 15th of February, 1828, Alexis Bailly, the trader at 
New Hope, now deceased, applied for the establishment of a 
new post on the Cannon River. 

During the month of June, Samuel Gibson, a drover from 
Missouri, lost his way while bringing cattle to Fort Snelling, 
and he abandoned them near Lacqui Parle. The trader there, 
Joseph Renville, took charge of them, and sixty-four head 
were subsequently sold for $750 and the money forwarded to 
the unfortunate drover. 

One day this month, an old Sioux, named Mogoiya, visited 
the Fort and produced a Spanish commission dated A. D. 
1781, and signed by Colonel Francisco Cruzat, military gover- 
nor of Louisiana, the valley of the Minnesota at that time 
having been a portion of the Spanish domain, subsequently 
ceded to France. 

On the 31st of August Jacob Falstrom brought up a mail 
from Prairie du Chien. He had a romantic career. Born in 
Sweden, at the age of nine years he became a cabin boy on a 
vessel which was wrecked on the English coast. At length 
friendless and penniless he found himself in London, where 
he happened to meet Lord Selkirk who treated him with kind- 
ne>>, and sent him to the Selkirk settlement, by way of Hud* 



904 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

son's Bay and York River. In time he married the sister of 
Bonuga, a descendant of a negro from the West Indies, who 
c&me to Mackinaw in the last century with a British officer. 
For several years Falstrom remained on the military reserva- 
tion, and in the year 1838 he professed to be converted under 
the teachings of the Methodist missionaries at Red Rock. 

PROPOSED ORGANIZATION OF HURON TERRITORY. 

The first movement for an organized government in the 
valley of the Upper Mississippi was in 1828, when a number 
of citizens in the lead mines, near Galena, Illinois, memorial- 
ized Congress to organize Huron Territory with Galena for its 
capital. The limits indicated were the British possessions for 
a northern boundary, the Red River of the North, Lac Trav- 
erse, Big Stone Lake, and a line to the Missouri River, and 
thence easterly to the Mississippi; the southern boundary a 
line from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan westerly 
to the Mississippi; the eastern boundary through the center 
of Lake Michigan, across Michigan Territory to Lake Superior, 
comprising what is now Minnesota, Wisconsin, the north half 
of Iowa, and a portion of Northern Illinois. 

EVENTS OF 1829. 

The winter, spring and summer of 1829, were exceedingly 
dry. For ten months the average monthly fall of rain and 
snow was one inch. 

On Thursday, the 14th day of May, the steamboat Jose- 
phine, from St. Louis, reached the Stone Cave, (Carver's) 
when her machinery broke, but after a delay of several hours, 
at 10 o'clock in the night, reached the Fort, and among her 
passengers were Capt. Gale and family and a Polish Count. 

On the 1.6th of May the Indians engaged in a ball play for 
the gratification of the Count from Poland, and others, and 
then the steamboat returned to Saint Louis. The next day 
was Sunday, and, after a drought of more than forty days, 
rain fell. 

About forty of Red Wing's band, from the head of Lake 
Pepin, called upon the Agent, and said that since the death 
of their Chief, old Red Wing, they had not been able to 



DOG DANCE AT FORT SHELLING. 905 

choose another. They were told to confer with each other 
and come to a decision. Upon Monday they announced that 
they had chosen Wahcouta, the step-son of the deceased 
Chief. 

On the 20th of May there was a peace dance by about one 
hundred relatives of the four Sioux, who had been delivered 
up to the Chippeways in 1827, and shot at Fort Snelling. 
The dance was to throw off their mourning, and they ate 
whatever was hung up on a stake. One uncooked dog was 
devoured, each dancer coming up and taking a bite. Seven 
days after, twenty-two bark canoes, filled with Chippeways, 
from Grull Lake, Sandy Lake, and Rum River arrived, and B. 
F. Baker, then trading at Gull Lake. On Sunday, the last 
day of May, the Sioux and Chippeways danced before the 
Agent's house. Then the Sioux went over to the Chippe- 
ways > camp, and danced before their lodges. To return the 
compliment, the next day, thirty or forty Chippeways went 
up to Black Dog's, the Sioux village, on the Minnesota, four 
miles from the Fort, and danced, and the next day they 
returned to their homes, having made an agreement by which 
they would hunt in peace upon the prairies above the Sauk 
River. 

On the 15th of June, Little Crow, who had been for years 
the Chief of the Kaposia band of Sioux, dwelling between 
Pig's 3Eye and Red Rock, and whose name was placed in 1805 
on Pike's Treaty, visited the Fort, and thus addressed the 
Agent: 

LITTLE CROW'S SPEECH. 

"My Father! I rise to say but little to you to-day. Words 
reached me that we were wanted, but we did not know for 
what purpose, whether for good or bad news, but I have seen 
things come from your hands which opened my eyes, and I 
am pleased. 

"I can say, and these people present know it, that there was 
a time when they were all under my command, but you see 
me to-day almost alone, my band being scattered in every 
direction, it is not my fault that it is so, I have to blame some 
of the young people for it. 

"We made peace to please you, but if we are badly off, we 



906 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

must blame you for causing us to give up so much of our 
lands to our enemies. We were better off before the white 
people came among us, but now they are here, we cannot do 
without your assistance. 

" My Father! we have been a long time acquainted with 
each other, and you know how thft hearts of my children are 
placed; for my part I am getting old, and the day is at hand 
when I must follow all the old people in the grave, but after 
my death my people will speak of me and my counsels, and 
you will know that they have been good, for since the last war 
f 1812-1815], I have listened to the Americans, and have no 
cause to repent having followed their advice. 

" My Father! we never wish to lose you for no matter what 
man we get, he can never please us as well as you have done. 
You know us and our ways. I speak my sentiments, and 
mine are the same with all my nation. We have been left 
destitute by our trader taking away all our guns which we got 
on credit from him last winter. But you have given us pow- 
der, lead and tobacco with which we are much pleased, as it 
will enable us to live some time yet. 

11 My Father! a few more words and 1 have done. I was the 
first man to take thirty of my men and visit your people after 
the war. I returned home, and then made one more trip to 
visit the British, but have not done the same thing since you 
came among us, ten years ago." 

SCHOOL AT LAKE CALHOUN. 

On August 15th, 1829, agent Taliaferro established an 
Indian agricultural school at Lake Calhoun, which he named 
Eatonville, after the then Secretary of War. Early in Sep- 
tember, Revs. Alvan Coe and J. D. Stevens, two Presbyterian 
missionaries, visited the fort. In the agent's journal is the 
following entry: ''The Rev. Mr. Coe and Stevens reported to 
be on their way to this fort, members of the Presbyterian 
Church, looking out for suitable places to make missionary 
establishments for the Sioux and Chippeways, found schools, 
and instruct in the arts and agriculture," 

The agent, though not at that time a communicant of the 
church, welcomed these visitors, and afforded them every 



PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARIES. 907 

facility in visiting the Indians. On Sunday, the 6th of Sep- 
tember, the Rev. Mr. Coe preached twice at the fort, and the 
next night held a prayer-meeting at the quarters of the com- 
manding officer. On the next Sunday he preached again* 
and on the 14th, with Mr. Stevens and a hired guide, returned 
to Mackinaw by way of the St. Croix river. During this visit 
the agent offered for a Presbyterian mission the mill which 
then stood on the site of Minneapolis, and had been erected 
by the soldiers, as well as a farm at Lake Calhoun, which had 
been established for the benefit of the Dakotahs. 

On the 8th of September he addressed the following letter 
to the Rev. Joshua T. Russell, Secretary of the Board of 
Missions of Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pa: 

u Rev. Sir: It having been represented to me by the Rev. 
Alvan Coe, that it is very desirable on the part of the Board 
of Missions of the Presbyterian Church, to form an establish- 
ment at this post, and also within the heart of the Chippeway 
country bordering on the upper Mississippi, for the purposes 
of agriculture, schools, and the development of the light and 
truths of the Christian religion to the unhappy aborigines of 
this vast wilderness. 

14 As my views fully accord in every material point with 
those of Messrs. Coe and Stevens, I can in truth assure the 
Board through you, sir, of my determination heartily to co- 
operate with them in any and every measure that may be 
calculated to insure success in the highly interesting and 
important objects to which the attention of the society has 
been so happily directed. 

" Should the Society form a missionary establishment on 
the waters of the Saint Croix, some of which communicate 
with Rum River of the Mississippi, and a special Agent or 
sub- Agent, the influence of whom might be necessary to the 
more efficient operations of the missionary families there 
located, 1 have no doubt but that the Government would be 
willing to appoint one for the special duty, if requested by 
the Society, accompanied by explanatory views on the sub- 
ject. 

"As to an establishment; for the Sioux of thi< Agency, it 
would be in the power of the Society to commenc". opera- 



908 histort of Minnesota, 

tions, without much expense, at the Falls of Saint Anthony, 
where there is a good grist and saw-mill, with suitable build 
ings, at present going into decay for the want of occupants. 
I would cheerfully turn over my present infant culony oi 
agriculturists, together with their implements and horses 
etc., to such an establishment." 

A BRIDAL TOUR. 

This month the Surgeon of the Fort, Dr. R. C. Wood, 
made a visit to Prairie du Chien, and in a few weeks returned 
in an open boat, with a youthful bride by his side, the eldest 
daughter of Col. Zachary Taylor, then in command at Fort 
Crawford. How wonderful the changes of a generation! Col. 
Taylor became the President of the United States, and died 
during angry controversies in Congress, relative to the exten- 
sion of slavery. Dr. R. C. Wood, his son-in-law, lived to see 
the rebellion of the Slave States, and to act as Assistant Sur- 
geon General of the United States Army; while another son- 
in-law, Jefferson Davis, became the President of the Insurgent 
States, and a grandson, John Wood, commander ot one of its 
privateers, the Talahassee. 

events or a. D. 1830. 

In the year 1830 Col. Taylor was one of the commissioners 
appointed to hold a treaty at Prairie du Chien, but for some 
reason the traders threw obstacles in the way, which called 
forth a letter from " Old Zach," as the soldiers and citizens 
called him, in which were these words: " Take the American 
Fur Company in the aggregate, and they are the greatest 
scoundrels the world ever knew." 

This year there Were so many drunken and licentious In- 
dians lounging around the fort that the following order was 
issued: 

" Headquarters Fort Spelling, June 17, 1830. 

" The commanding officer has within a few mornings past, 
discovered Indian women leaving the garrison immediately 
after reveille. The practice of admitting Indians into the 
fort to remain during the night is strictly prohibited. No 
officer will hereafter pass any Indian or Indians into the gar- 



INDIANS EXCLUDED FROM FORT. 909 

lison without special permission from the commanding officer. 
It is made the duty of the officer of the day to see that this 
order is strictly enforced. 

By order of Capt. GALE. 

"E. R. Williams, Lt. and Adjt." 

The following day Captain Gale received the following let- 
ter from Major Taliaferro: 

"Agency House, St. Peter, June 18, 1830. 

"Sir: Since my request to you of yesterday to co-operate 
with me in endeavoring to counteract the view of the traders 
near this post, by excluding all Indians from the fort, I have 
become more fully acquainted with other facts of a nature 
calculated to ensure their success in preventing the Indians 
from attending the contemplated treaty at Prairie du Chieni 
this summer. Penetion's [Pinchon's] band yesterday received 
by the hand of one of his nephews, a keg of whiskey, and this 
same band has been kept through the instrumentality of the 
traders in a state of continual drunkenness for some time past. 

"No man can be made better acquainted with these facts 
than myself. I shall place Mr. Faribault's bond in suit, as 
also Mr. Culbertson's, the moment it becomes fairly developed 
as to the course which has been pursued by them, respectively. 
I have sent confidential persons to all the villages, to see how 
the Indians get the whiskey, and from whom, and what num- 
ber are found drunk in each. 

" I have again to request that no Indians be permitted to 
enter the fort for the purposes of trade, as they have done for 
some time past; for they become insolent, lazy, and begin to 
attempt to take a stand independent of me, consequently no- 
thing short of their entire exclusion from the fort will effect- 
ually correct the evil complained of. 

"Mr. Campbell has just returned from his expedition to the 
several bands of the Sioux. On his passage through their 
country, upon leaving my message, they were willing to at- 
tend the treaty, but on his return all that he saw, refused to 
accompany him to this place, on the ground that an Indian 
messenger had passed just after him, stating that the Sioux 
ought not to go down to the Prairie, for if they did they would 



910 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

be turned over to the Sacs and Foxes by the white people. 

"This report naturally caused the whole of the band to dis- 
perse, their chiefs setting the example. A^ain, others state 
as they can get plenty of whisky from their traders and a 
little tobacco, that they had no occasion to go anywhere, and 
would not go; so that in the brief space of nine months my 
influence with most of the bands has been greatly impaired in 
consequence of the quantities of whiskey which have been given 
them by the traders. Consequently the humane policy of the 
Government in regard to these deluded people has thus un- 
happily been interfered with, and this too at a time when it 
was all important for them to have accepted of its munificence 
and mediation. 

The disappointment and embarrassment which will be 
caused the Commissioners by the refusal of the Sioux to at- 
tend, may be more easily imagined than described, as the treaty 
cannot well go on without them, they being mainly concerned. 
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

Your most obedient servant, 

LAW. TALIAFERRO, 
Indian Agent at St. Peter. 

Capt. J, H. Gale, 1st Inf 'try, Com'dg Fort Snelling. 

SIOUX ATTACK. 

During the summer of 1830, while the Indian Agent was at 
Prairie du Chien, a nephew of Little Crow with fifteen or 
twenty of the Kaposia Sioux, went to the St. Croix River 
and killed Cadotte, a half-breed, and three or four Chippevvas. 

Before daylight on the morning of the 14th of August, a 
soldier on sentinel duty discovered the Indian council house on 
fire and gave the alarm, but it was entirely consumed. The 
afternoon before some drunken Indians came over trom Alexis 
Bailly's trading house and used abusive language. On the 
11th of September, an Indian relative of Mrs. Faribault came 
to the Agent, and voluntarily informed him that his uncle, a 
son-in-law of Wapashah, was the incendiary. 

This year the agricultural colony of Sioux at Lake Calhoun, 
known as Entonvilie, was under the charge of P inlander 
Prescott. 



MARRIAGES AT FORT SNELLING. 911 

EVENTS OF A. D. 1831. 

On the 25th of July, 1S31, twenty persons from Selkirk's 
Settlement came down to the Fort, having been erroneously 
informed that the United States would give them land in the 
vicinity, and also farming implements. 

About the same time, forty Sauks passed into the Sioux 
country, between the headwaters of the Cannon and Blue 
Earth Rivers, and killed several Sioux at a place called Cinta- 
gali. or Grey Tail, not far from where in 1822 and 1823 the 
Sauks and Sisseton Sioux had fought. 

Dab] am, Brisbois, and Joseph R. Brown on the 18th of 
September, came by land from Prairie du Chien, an unusual 
journey at that time. 

EVENTS OF A. D. 1832. 

The first steamboat that arrived at the Fort in the year 1S32 
was on the 12th of May, and the boat was the Versailles; on 
the 27th of June came the Enterprise. 

On the 16th of June, William Carr and three drovers reached 
the north side of the Minnesota with six horses and eighty 
head of cattle for the use of the garrison. 

On the last day of July a train of immigrants arrived from 
Red River with fifty or sixty cows and oxen and twenty or 
twenty-five horses. Including these, four hundred and eighty- 
nine persons from Selkirk Settlement had arrived since 1821, 
at the fort. A few, Abraham Perry and others, became farm- 
ers in the vicinity, while the majority went to Illinois aud 
Indiana. 

PERSONS UNITED IN MARRIAGE BY INDIAN AGENT. 

On the 29th of July Agent Taliaferro married Sophia Perry 
to a Mr. Godfrey. Among other marriages at which the 
Indian agent officiated, was on July 3d, 1835, Hippolite Pro- 
vost and Margaret Brunell. In February, 1836, Charles 
Mosseau was married to Fanny, the daughter of Abraham 
Perry, a Swiss emigrant who came from the Hudson Bay 
territory in 1827, and settled at first between the fort and Min- 
nehaha, and afterwards, when the military reservation was 
defined, built a log house in what is now a suburb Of St. Paul. 



91.2 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

The mother of the bride was an accomplished accoucheur, and 
was a favorite with the officers' wives, and by her skill put 
many an army surgeon to the blush, although they were not 
jealous of her attainmerts. 

On September 12th, 1836, at the house of Oliver Crattei 
near the fort, James Wells, who subsequently was a member 
of the Territorial Legislature and was killed in the late Sioux 
massacre, was married to Jane, daughter of Duncan Graham, 
and on the 29th of November, at the quarters of Captain 
Barker, Alpheus R. French, the early saddler of St. Paul, was 
married to Mary Henry. 

SLAVES AT FORT SPELLING. 

Among the few slaves brought within the limits of Minne- 
sota, several belonged to Mijor Taliaferro. The Indians at 
that time had no prejudice against those of African descent, 
and welcomed them to their lodges with the same courtesy as 
white persons. The wooly head they looked upon as "wakan," 
and designated, them as u black Frenchmen/' Some would 
put their hands upon the coarse curly hair of the negro, and 
then laugh. As early as March, 1826, Taliaferro hired his 
black boy William to Colonel Snelling, and under date of the 
26th of May, of the same year, we find in his journal this 
entry: " Captain Plympton wishes to purchase my servant 
girl. I informed him that it was my intention to give her 
freedom after a limited time, but that Mrs. Plympton could 
keep her for two years or perhaps three." 

DRED SCOTT. 

In 1836 Dred Scott, whose name has become historic, came 
to Fort Snelling with his master, Surgeon Emerson, and fell 
in love with Taliaferro's slave girl Harriet, and in due time 
the marriage agreement was made in the Major's presence, 
and was duly certified by him as a Justice of the Peace. 

The decision of the conscientious and pure-minded Chief 
Justice Taney, relative to the rights of Dred Scott as a citi- 
zen, led to acrimonial discussions between the friends of free- 
dom and slavery, and was one of the causes which led to the 
fratricidal war which wiped out with much precious blood the 



THE DRED SCOTT CASE. 913 

" sable spot" upon the escutcheon of the Republic, to which 
Moore in one of his poems tauntingly alludes. 

The statement or the case upon the United States Supreme 
Court, as agreed upon by the counsel, was that " The plain- 
tiff was a negro slave belonging to Dr. Emerson, who was a 
surgeon in the army of the United States. In the year 1834, 
he took the plaintiff from the State of Missouri, to the mili- 
tary post at Rock Island, and held him there as a slave until 
the month of May, 1836. 

" At the last mentioned time, said Dr. Emerson, removed 
the plaintiff from said military post at Rock Island, to the 
military post at Fort Snelling, situated on the west bank of 
the Mississippi River, in the territory known as Upper Louis- 
iana, acquired by the United States of France, and situated 
north of latitude 36 deg, 30 min, north of the State of Mis- 
souri. 

"Said Dr. Emerson held the plaintiff in slavery at said 
Fort Snelling from the said last mentioned date until the 
year 1838. 

M In the year 1835, Harriet, who is named in the said com- 
plaint of the plaintiff's declaration, was the negro slave of 
Major Taliaferro, who belonged to the Army of the United 
States. In the year 1835, said Major Taliaferro took said 
Harriet to the said Fort Snelling, a military post, situated as 
before stated, kept her there as a slave until the year 1836, 
then sold and delivered her as a slave at said Fort Snelling, 
unto said Dr. Emerson herein before named. Said Dr. Em- 
erson held said Harriet in slavery at Fort Snelling until the 
year 1838. 

"In the year 1836, plaintiff and Harriet inter-married at 
Fort Snelling, with the consent of Dr. Emerson, who then 
claimed to be their master and owner. Eliza and Lizzie, 
named in the third count of the plaintiff's declaration, are 
the fruits of the marriage. Eliza is about fourteen years old, 
and was born on board the steamboat Gipsy, north of the 
boundary of the State of Missouri, and upon the River Mis- 
sissippi. Lizzie is also seven years old, and was born in the 
State of Missouri, at the military post called Jefferson Bar- 
racks. 58 



914: HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

"In the year 1838, said Dr Emerson removed the plaintiff 
and Harriet and daughter Eliza from said Fort Snelling to 
the State of Missouri, where they have ever since resided." 

Both the Counsel and Judges were in error in declaring 
that Major Taliaferro " belonged to the Army of the United 
States," as in 1819 his resignation had been accepted, a gen- 
eration before the declaration was made. 

WIDOW OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

On the morning of the 26th of June, A. D. 1838, the 
steamer Burlington arrived for the third time since the open- 
ing of navigation, at the mouth of the Minnesota, with about 
150 soldiers for Fort Snelling, and a few tourists. Among 
these was a venerable woman who was the daughter of one 
of the most distinguished men of New York. During the 
winter of 1780, she was with her father, who was General 
Philip Schuyler, at Washington's headquarters, Morristown, 
N. J., and there she charmed, and, at the age of 22, married, 
Washingtons favorite aide and military secretary, the then 
young Alexander Hamilton. After the War of the Revolu- 
tion, her husband was active in framing the United States 
Constitution, and appointed by Washington the first Secre- 
tary of the Treasury. In July, 1804, as every one knows, he 
fell in a duel with Aaron Burr. 

His widow received the sympathy of the Nation, and as 
she advanced in years she appeared to renew her youth. She 
came West in 1838, to visit her son, W. S. Hamilton, en- 
gaged in the lead mines of Wisconsin, and afterwards at 
Galena she embarked for a tour to the Upper Mississippi. 

A lady who entertained her, wrote: 4 * Pleasant and unaf- 
fected, she stands among my dearest recollections. She bore 
her age with graceful dignity, and was remarkably active. 
Every morning before breakfast, she would, unattended, take 
a long walk in search of wild flowers." 

It was sunrise when the Burlington reached Fort Snelling, 
and at 8 o'clock the officers of the fort came to pay their re- 
spects to one who had been a belle at Washington's head- 
quarters. At 9 in the morning a carriage was sent to take her 
to the Falls of St. Anthony, and about 4 in the afternoon she 



A REMARKABLE WOMAN. 915 

returned, and was received at the gate of the fort by the officers. 
Leaning upon the commandant's arm, she was escorted to a 
chair upon a carpet, spread in the center of the campus, and 
then the troops under arms marched by and saluted. After 
this she was taken to headquarters and entertained. The same 
night she left in the steamboat ior Galena. 

Subsequently she resided with a married daughter in Wash- 
ington, and for years she charmed those who met her by the 
grace and simplicity of her manner. 

She lived in that city near the residence of Alexander Ram- 
sey when a Representative in Congress from Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania, and was very attentive to his wife when she 
came to Washington a bride, She was permitted to see the 
Territory of Minnesota organized from the region she had 
visited when hundreds of miles beyond the limits of civiliza- 
tion, and Alexander Ramsey appointed its first governor. 
She died on Xovember 9, 1S54, at the ripe age of 97 years 
and three months. 

whiskt in 1S39. 

Whisky, during the year 1S39, was freely introduced, in 
face of the law prohibiting it. The first boat ot the season, 
the Ariel, came to the fort on the 14th of April, and brought 
twenty barrels of whisky for Joseph R. Brown, and on the 
21st of May, the Glaucus brought six barrels of liquor for 
David Faribault. On the 30th of June, some soldiers went 
to Joseph R. Brown's groggery on the opposite side of the 
Mississippi, and that night forty-seven were in the guard- 
house for drunkenness. The demoralization then existing, 
led to a letter by Surgeon Emerson, on duty at the fort, to 
the Surgeon General of the United States army, in which he 
writes: 

" The whiskey is brought here by citizens who are pouring 
in upon us and settling themselves on the opposite shore of 
the Mississippi River, in defiance of our worthy commanding 
officer, Major J. Plympton, whose authority they set at naught. 
At this moment there is a citizen named Brown, once a soldiei 
in the Fifth Infantry, who was discharged at this post, whila 
Colonel Snelling commanded, and who has been since em- 
ployed by the American Fur Company, actually building on 



916 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

the land marked out by the land officers as the reserve, and 
within gunshot distance of the fort, a very expensive whiskey 
shop/' 

On the 8th of September, some Sioux Indians crossed over 
to the east side of the Mississippi , and destroyed the groggery 
owned by Joseph R. Brown, Henry C. Menk, a foreigner, and 
Anderson, a quarter-breed Sioux. 

The owners wrongfully suspected the Indian Agent of in- 
citing the Sioux to the act and sought revenge. Menk, by 
false statements, although an alien, succeeded in obtaining an 
appointment as special deputy sheriff of Clayton County, Iowa, 
and went and arrested Major Taliaferro, while sick, at the in- 
stance of one of his low companions, named Chirt, on the 
false charge of aiding in destroying the whisky cabin. 

The barefaced scamp surprised the agent in his morning 
gown, threw him on the floor, placed his knee on his stomach 
and a pistol at his ear. As soon as the commandant of the 
fort heard of the outrage by Menk, who was not only an alien 
but an intruder on the military reserve, he ordered him to 
leave the country. 

FIRST WOOL MANUFACTURED, 

The first manufacture of wool in Minnesota was at the 
Presbyterian Mission at Lac qui Parle. The wife of A. Gr. 
Huggins, an assistant missionary, taught the Sioux girls to 
twist flax and wool, and in the fall of 1838, to knit socks. 
The next year Mr Huggins put up a loom, and two Sioux 
women and two girls, each wove enough linsey to make a 
gown. 

THE FIRST CHURCH BELL IN MINNESOTA. 

In the summer of 1841, Dr. Williamson and Rev. S. R. 
Riggs, Presbyterian missionaries at Lac qui Parle, built a 
church of unburnt brick, which stood for thirteen years. It 
contained the first bell ever used in Minnesota. 

FIRST FRAME HOUSE ABOVE FORT SNELLING. 

In the fall of 1846, Rev. Samuel W. Pond was invited by 
the Indian Agent and the chief Shakpay, to reside at his vil- 
lage, where Oliver Faribault was then trader. Mr. Pond ac- 
cepted the request, and went down to Point Douglas a:><J 



SUTLERS OF FORT SPELLING. 917 

purchase! lumber. His brother Gideon afterwards brought 
up on the ice, with the aid of oxen, the timbers for the frame 
of a house. Then, with four yoke of oxen, Samuel again went 
after 4,000 feet of boards. Upon his return, near Grey Cloud 
Island, the animals slipped, fell, and broke through the ice. 
Kelieved of their yokes by Mr. Pond, they scrambled out, and 
the harness having been rearranged, the lumber reached Fort 
Snelling. At this point the frame of the house was made, 
and, in the spring of 1847, transported to Shakpay's village; 
and Mr. Pond lives in it to this day, in the suburbs of the 
white man's town of Shakopee. 

A MARCH ON THE ICE. 

The order for the troops at Fort Snelling to proceed tc the 
seat of war in Mexico, came while the Mississippi was frozen, 
and as there were no roads out to Prairie du Chien, they 
marched down on the ice, which was probably the longest 
march of the kind in the military history of the United States. 

SUTLERS AT FORT SHELLING. 

Among the earliest sutlers was Leonard, a native of Ver- 
mont. Iu 1806 he was a cadet at West Point and became 
an officer in the Light Artillery. He had as Captain distin- 
guished himself in the war with Great Britain, 1812-1815. 
There was disbanding in 1821 of the Light Artillery, and in 
July of the same year was appointed Sutler to the Fifth In- 
fantry, and stationed at Fort St. Anthony, now Snelling. He 
is said to have lost an eye in a duel with Lieut. J. M. Baxley. 
In 1845 he became a Military Storekeeper, and in 1861 was 
retired. On February 11, 1865 he died. 

JOHN CULBERTSON". 

John Culbertson, a native of Pennsylvania, who was wounded 
at the battle of Niagara Falls, and had risen to a captaincy 
in the Third Infantry, was in August, 1821, made a sutler in 
the army, and was from December, 1828, to 1832 at Fort 
Snelling. 

SAMUEL C. STAMBAUGH. 

Samuel C. Stambaugh, of Pennsylvania, was sutler at the 
time of the treaties of 1837. He came to Green Bay, Wis- 
consin, in 1829, to act as Indian Agent, and in November, 



918 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

1830, went to Washington with a delegation of Menomonees. 
There, with Major John H. Eaton, Secretary of War, he made 
a treaty with this tribe, but it was not ratified, and the Senate 
rejected his nomination. After the Black Hawk war he came 
to Fort Snelling. He was one of the first in 1837 to make a 
claim upon Lake St. Croix, and laid out a town called Stam- 
baughviile. 

FRANKLIN" STEELE. 

He was succeeded by Franklin Steele, of whom a notice will 
be found ou page 500 of this History. At the time of his 
death, in September, 1880, he was Chairman of the Depart- 
ment of American History of the Minnesota Historical Society. 
From a memorial read at the next monthly meeting of this 
section of the Society after his death the following paragraphs 
are extracted: 

"Franklin Steele was the fourth son of James Steele, In- 
spector General of Pennsylvania during the last war with 
Great Britain, and was born in 1813 at his father's residence 
near the western boundary of Chester County, Pennsylvania. 

* * * In April, 1843, he was married in Baltimore, by 
the Rev. Dr. Wyatt, to Anna, daughter of W. C. Barney, and 
grandchild of Commodore Barney of the United States Navy, 
and also by her mother, of Samuel Chase, one of the Maryland 
signers of the Declaration of Independence. With his bride 
he came to Fort Snelling when it was surrounded by Indians, 
and in his wilderness home he always exhibited a generous 
hospitality. * * * 

"Unobtrusiveness was a marked characteiistic of our late 
associate. His voice was not heard in the streets. Persons 
would associate with him for months in the midst of this city 
[Minneapolis], and would never think he had a right to say, 
'Quorum magna pars ful^ A gentleman by instinct, he avoided 
topics and allusions which would be painful to those with 
whom he conversed. * * * He did not soil his mouth 
with coarse, profane, or indecent utterances. The slang of 
the roaring fellows in a loggers 1 camp or at a military camp, 
to him had no attractions. * * The subject of our sketch was 
excelled by few in the symmetry of his physical developments. 
As a young man his presence was noticeable. 



DEATH OF FRANKLIN STEELE. 919 

" An old army officer saw him conversing with a j T oung lady 
at a party given by a member of Congress in Washington, 
asked his name, and when told that he was from what was 
then called Iowa Territory, replied, 'No matter where he re- 
sides, God never made a finer form.' * * * At our meet- 
ing in September [1880] no one could have looked upon his 
clear cut features, his fine expression, his manly, erect and 
matured form without feeling that 'Death found strange beauty 
on that polished brow and dashed it out' 1 " 



APPENDIX M.— PAGE 328. 

MURDERERS OF POUPON AND ANDREWS. 

The following letter, never before published, shows the pre- 
liminary steps taken to secure the murderers. 

Indian Agency, St. Peter's, Oct. 1. 1820. 

To His Excellency, Gov. Wm. Clark, Sup'tof Indian Affairs, 
Sir: — I beg leave to say to your Excellency that by a return 
party from the Council Bluffs on the 19th of last month, I re- 
ceived a communication from General Atkinson, commandant 
of that post, on the subject of two persons being killed, viz: 
Isadore Poupon, a half-breed, and Joseph F. Andrew, a Cana- 
dian of the Missouri Fur Company, and two mules and three 
horses were taken from them, and that five post horses were 
also stolen, supposed by the Sussatongs of the White Rock 
on the river St. Peter. 

On the 21st of September, I started a young Indian to the 
villages of the Sussatongs and Wahpacotas, to invite the 
chief's to see the agent at this post. They have done so with- 
out suspecting my views. The council was held yesterday, in 
presence of Colonel Snelling, and it was agreed that as the 
prisoners were not be had, we would detain two of their peace- 
ful young men as hostages for a speedy delivery of the mur- 
derers of the two men on the Missouri. They will be at the 
fort, perhaps, in fifteen or twenty days. They were not well 
pleased with the prompt measures adopted towards them, but 
left us without doing mischief. 



920 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

I will further remark that they (the Sussatongs and Wah. 
paeotas) acknowledge that a party from each band had been 
actually concerned and killed the two men, before mentioned, 
but they deny stealing or bringing to their villages more than 
two mules and one horse. One of the mules is at this post, 
and has a, running ulcer. The others will be returned in all 
probability when the murderers are delivered up to Colonel 
Snelling at this post. 

No difficulties have occurred within the limits of my agency 
as yet. With much respect, sir, I am 

Your obedient servant, 
LAW. TALIAFERRO, 
Indian Agent, St. Peters, Up. Miss. - 



APPENDIX N.— PAGE 342. 

WILLIAM JOSEPH SNELLING. 

Life within the walls of a fort is sometimes the exact con- 
trast of a paradise. In the year 1826 a Pandora box was 
opened, among the officers, and dissensions began to prevail. 
One young officer, a graduate of West Point, whose father 
had been a professor in Princeton College, challenged the 
father and then fought with, and slightly wounded, Wil- 
liam Joseph, the talented son of Col. Snelling, who 
was then twenty-two years of age, and had been three 
» years at West Point. At a court martial convened to 
try the officer for violating the Articles of War, the accused 
objected to the testimony of Lieut. William Alexander, a 
Tennesseean, not a graduate of the Military Academy, on the 
ground that he was an infidel. Alexander, hurt by this allu- 
sion, challenged the objector, and another duel was fought, 
resulting only in slight injuries to the clothing of the com- 
batants. Inspector General E. P. Gaines, after this visited 
the fort, and in his report of the inspection, he wrote: U A 
defect in the discipline of this regiment has appeared in the 
character of certain personal controversies, between the Col- 
onel and several of his young officers, the particulars of which 



DUELLING AT FORT SNELLLNG. 921 

I forbear to enter into, assured as I am that they will be de- 
veloped in the proceedings of a general court martial ordered 
for the trial of Lieutenant Hunter and other officers at Jeffer- 
son Barrack. 

"From a conversation with the Colonel I can have no doubt 
that he has erred in the course pursued by him in reference to 
some of the controversies, inasmuch as he has intimated to 
his officers his willingness to sanction in certain cases, and 
even to participate in personal conflicts, contrary to the twen- 
ty-fifth Article of War." 

The Colonel's son, William Joseph, after this passed several 
years among traders and Indians, and became distinguished 
as a poet and brilliant author. 

A portion of one of his poems is on the fifty-ninth page. 

His "Tales of the Northwest," published in Boston in 1830, 
by Hilliard, Gray, Little & Wilkins, is a work of great literary 
ability, and Catlin thought the book was the most faithful 
picture of Indian life he had read. Some of his poems were 
also of a high order. One of his pieces, deficient in dignity, 
was a caustic satire upon modern American poets, and was 
published under the title of "Truth, a Gift for Scribblers/' 

Nathaniel P. Willis, who had winced under it, wrote the 
following lampoon: 

II Oh, Smelling Joseph! Thou art like a cur, 
I'm told thou once did live by hunting fur: 
Of bigger dogs thou smellest, and in sooth 
Of one extreme, perhaps, can tell the truth; 

'Tis wise to shift, and show thou know'st thy powers, 

To leave the ''North-West Tales," and take to smelling ours," 

In 1832, a second edition of "Truth" appeared with addi- 
tions and emendations. In this appeared the following pas- 
quinade upon Willis: 

"I live by hunting fur, thou say'st, so let it be, 
But tell me, Natty ! Had I hunted thee, 
Had not my time been thrown away, young sir, 
And eke my powder? Puppies have no fur. 



922 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA, 

"Our tails? Thou ownest thee to a tail, 
I've scanned the o'er and o'er, 
But, though I guessed the species right, 
I was not sure before. 

Our savages, authentic travelers say, 

To natural fools, religious homage pay, 

Hadst thou been born in wigwam's smoke, and died in, 

Nat! thine apotheosis had been certain." 

In 1831, a work from his pen was published at Boston, with 
the title "A Free and Impartial History of the Life of Andrew 
Jackson, President of the United States. By a Free Man," 

Under a pseudonym he also published "Tales of Travel, 
West of the Mississippi." In 1834 he was editor of the New 
England Galaxy, and was severe in his editorials upon certain 
gambling houses, and the drunkenness of a Judge, which led 
to his trial for a libel of the Hon. Benjamin Whitmore, Sr., 
Judge of the Police Court, Boston, Contributions from his 
pen are found in the North American Review for the years 
1831 and 1835, and in the Boston Book of 1837. At the time 
of his death, in 1848, he was editor of the Boston Herald, 



APPENDIX 0.— PAGE 453, 

TREATIES OF 1837 AND CLAIMS MADE. 

The treaties with the Chippeways and Sioux in 1837 were 
of great importance. 

During the early summer, Charles Vineyard, a sub-agent, 
was sent to invite the Chippeways to a council at Fort Snell- 
ing, with U. S. Commissioners. Twelve hundred were assem- 
bled in July. The American Fur Company in a treaty in 
1830, at Praire du Chien, succeeded in having inserted for the 
first time a provision by which an Indian tribe would be held 
responsible for the bad debts of individuals of the nation. 
The treaty with the Chippeways was concluded on the 29th 
of July, at Fort Snelling, with some excitement. Two prom- 
inent traders entered the Indian Agent's office, in apparent 



AN EXORBITANT CLAIM. 

haste, and asked for a pen. Soon after a claim was presented 
to the Secretary of the Commissioners for $5,000 for mills on 
Chippewa River. The Indians were astonished at the fraud, 
but one Chief, for the sake of peace, was willing to allow 
$500 for that which had been erected for their own profit, by 
white men, on unceded land. Hole-in-the-Day, the elder, 
however, objected, and in a little while, a band of Chippeways 
were seen marching, under the guidance of an old trader, 
Lyman M. Warren, for the purpose of securing recognition 
of the claim. 

As they pushed into the treaty arbor, Major Taliaferro, as 
Indian Agent, encouraged by Hole-in-the-Day, pointed a 
pistol at Warren, but General Dodge begged him not to shoot. 
The traders by persistance gained their end, and the treaty 
was ratified with the following article : " The sum of $70,000 
shall be applied to the payment, by the United States of cer- 
tain claims against the Indians, of which amount $28,000, at 
their request, shall be paid to William A. Aitkin ; $25,000 to 
Lyman Warren, and other just demands against them, which 
they acknowledged to be the case, with regard to that pre- 
sented by Hercules L. Dousman, for the sum of $5,000, and 
they request that it be paid." 

SIOUX TREATY. 

The treaty with the Chippeways being concluded, General 
Dodge requested the Indian Agent to select a delegation of 
Sioux and proceed to Washington. The traders attempted 
to prevent the departure of the Sioux, until they made a 
promise that they would provide for the indebtedness of indi- 
viduals to traders. 

The agent, keeping his own counsel, engaged a steamboat 
to be ready on a certain day. Captain Lafferty was promptly 
at Fort Snelling, and to the astonishment of the traders, the 
agent, interpreters, and a portion of the delegation were 
quickly on board, and the boat glided down the river. Stop- 
ping at Kaposia. Big Thunder came aboard with his pipe 
bearer; at Red Winer, Wahkoota and his war chief became 
passengers ; and at Winona, Wapashah and others increased 
the delegation to twenty-six. Without accident they reached 



924: HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

Washington, and a synopsis of a treaty was presented to 
Poinsett, the Secretary of War. 

The Fur Company was in turn represented by H, H. Sibley, 
Alexis Bailly, Joseph Laframbois, Augustus Rocque, Francis 
Labathe and others, and on the 29th of September a treaty 
was signed, and the next year was ratified by the Senate and 
approved by the President. 

The Sioux delegation returned by way of St. Louis, and 
from thence they came on the steamboat Rollo to Fort Snell- 
ing. On the way one of the boilers collapsed, but fortunately 
no one was scalded, and on the 10th of November, 1837, the 
party landed in safety. 

CLAIMS UPON CEDED LANDS. 

The pine forests between the Saint Croix and Minnesota 
had been for several years a temptation to energetic men. As 
early as November, 1836, a Mr. Pitt went with a boat and a 
party of men to the Falls of Saint Croix to cut pine timber 
with the consent of the Chippeways, but the dissent of the 
United States authorities. 

In 183T while the treaty was being made by Commissioners 
Dodge and Smith at Fort Snelling. on one Sunday Franklin 
Steele, Dr. Fitch, Jeremiah Russell, and a Mr. Maginnis left 
Fort Snelling for the Falls of Saint Croix, in a birch bark 
canoe paddled by eight men, and reached that point about 
noon on Monday and commenced a log cabin. Steele and 
Maginnis remained here, while the others, dividing into two 
parties, one under Fitch, and the other under Russell, searched 
for pine land. The first stopped at Sun Rise, while Russell 
went on to the Snake River. About the same time Robbinet 
and James B. Taylor came to the Falls in the interest of 
B. F. Baker who had a stone trading house near Fort Snell- 
ing, since destroyed by fire. On the 15th July, 1838, the 
Palmyra, Capt. Holland, arrived at the Fort, with the official 
notice of the ratification of the treaties ceding the lands 
between the Saint Croix and the Mississippi. 

She had on board C. A. Tuttle, L. W. Stratton and others, 
with the machinery for the projected mills of the Northwest 
Lumber Company at the Falls of Saint Croix, and reached 



ST. CROIX VALLEY PIONEERS. 925 

that point on the 17th, the first steamboat to disturb the 
waters above Lake Saint Croix. The steamer Gypsy came to 
the fort on the 21st of October, with goods for the Chippe- 
ways, and was chartered for four hundred and fifty dollars, to 
carry them up to the Falls of Saint Croix. In passing through 
the lake the boat grounded near a projected town called Stam- 
baughville, after S. C. Stambaugh, the suttler at the fort. On 
the afternoon of the 26th, the goods were landed as stipulated. 

The agent of the Improvement Company at the falls was 
Washington Libby, who left in the fall of 1838, and was suc- 
ceeded by Jeremiah Russell, Stratton acting as millwright in 
place of Calvin Tuttle. On the 12th of December, Russell 
and Stratton walked down the river, cut the first tree and 
built a cabin at Marine, and sold their claim. 

The first women at the Falls of Saint Croix were a Mrs. 
Orr, Mrs. Sackett, and a daughter of a Mr. Young. During 
the winter of 1838-9, Jeremiah Russell married a daughter 
of a respectable gentlemanly trader, Charles H. Oakes. 

Among the first preachers were the Ftev. W. T. Boutwell 
and Mr. Seymour, of the Chippeway Mission at Pokeguma. 
The Rev. A. Brunson, of Prairie du Chien, who visited this 
region in 1838, wrote that at the mouth of Snake River he 
found Franklin Steele, with twenty-five or thirty men, cut- 
ting timber for a mill, and when he offered to preach Mr. 
Steele gave a cordial assent. 

On the 16th of August, Mr. Seeele, Livingston, and others, 
left the Falls of Saint Croix in a barge, and went around to 
Fort Snelling. 

The steamboat Fayette about the middle of May, 1839, 
landed sutlers' stores at Fort Snelling and then proceeded 
with several persons of intelligence to the Saint Croix River, 
who settled at Marine. 

The place was called after Marine in Madison County, 111., 
where the company, sonsisting of Judd, Hone, and others, 
was formed to build a saw mill in the Saint Croix Valley. 
The mill at Marine commenced to saw lumber on August 24, 
1839, the first in Minnesota, beyond the Fort Snelling reser- 
vation. 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 

APPENDIX P.— PAGE 454. 

EXTRACTS FROM DIARY OF CAPT. MARRYAT, R. N. 

On the morning of the 13th of June, 1838, the steamboat 
Burlington arrived at Fort Snelling with a number of visitors, 
among whom was Captain Marryat of the British Navy, the 
well known novelist, who became a guest . of Mr. Sibley at 
Mendota. The following extracts are from his "Diary in 
America." 

"While I was there a band of Sioux from the Lac qui Parle 
(so named from a remarkable echo), distant about two hundred 
and thirty miles from Fort Snelling, headed by a Mons. 
Rainville, or de Rainville, as he told me was his real name, 
and he asserts descended from one of the best families in France 
who settled in Canada. 

"He is a half-breed, his father being a Frenchman and his 
mother a Sioux. His wife is also a Sioux, so that his family 
are three-quarters red. He had been residing many years with 
tKe Sioux tribes, trafficking with them for peltry, and has 
been very judicious in his treatment of them. * * * Lat- 
terly two missionaries [Williamson and Riggs] have been sent 
out to his assistance. The Dacotah language has been reduced 
to writing. * * * I have now in my possession an ele- 
mentary spelling book published at Boston in the Sioux 
tongue. * * * 

"Mr, Rainville's children read and write English, Sioux and 
French. They are modest and well behaved as Indian women 
generally are. They had prayers every evening and I used to 
attend them. The warriors sat on the floor around the room. 
The missionary [Rev. S. R. Riggs], with Mr. Rainville and 
his family in the centre, and they all sang remarkably well. 

JACK FRASER. 

" A half-breed by the name of Jack Fraser came up with 
us on the steamboat. He has been admitted into one of the 
bands of Sioux who live on the river, and he is reckoned one 
of the bravest of their warriors. I counted twenty-eight 
notches on the handle of his tomahawk, each one denotes a 
scalp taken, and when dressed he wears eagle's feathers to 



ANECDOTES OF JACK FRASER. 927 

that amount. He is a fine, intellectual looking man. I con- 
versed with him through the interpreter, and he told me that 
the only man he wished to kill was his father. On inquiry, 
why? He replied that his father had broken his word to him; 
that he had promised to make him a white man, that is, to 
have him educated and brought up in a civilized manner, and 
that he had left him a Sioux. 

"The following story is told of Jack Fraser: When he 
was a lad twelve years old, he was with three Sioux Indians 
captured by the Chippeways. At that period, these tribes 
were not at war, but preparing for it; the Chippeways, there- 
fore, did not kill, but insulted the Sioux who fell into their 
hands. The greatest affront is to cut off the hair which grows 
very long, before and behind, hanging down in plaits orna- 
mented with silver brooches. 

The Chippeways cut off the hair of the Sioux Indians and 
were about to perform the same office for Jack, when he 
threw them off, telling them that if they wanted his hair they 
must take it with the scalp attached to it. 

11 The boldness on the part of the boy astonished the Chip- 
peways, and they put their hands to their mouths, as the 
Indians always do when they are very much surprised. Thev 
determined, however, to ascertain if Jack was really as braye 
as he appeared to be. 

" One of the Chippeways re-filled his pipe, and put the hot 
bowl of it to Jack's nether quarters, and kept in close contact 
until it had burned a hole in his flesh as large as a dollar and 
a half inch deep. Jack never flinched during the operation, 
and the Indians was so pleased with them that they not only 
allowed Jack to retain his hair, but they gave him his liberty." 



928 



HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



APPENDIX Q.— PAGE XLIX. 



POPULATION ACCORDING TO CENSUS OF A. D. 1880. 



Counties. 


3 


o 
o 
© 


Counties. 


© 


•d 
© 



O 


The State 


776.884 

306 

7,083 

4,468 

10 

2,977 

3,688 

22,851 

12,009 

1,101 

14,138 

461 

5,405 

7,983 

5,855 

15 

5,533 

2,248 

17,307 

11,333 

9,105 

13,013 

28,150 

16,057 

29,584 

3.004 

66,453 

16,820 

5,062 

46 

4,806 

484 

10,158 

871 

4,891 

65 

16,067 

2,942 

6,255 

12,341 


3,889 

60 

25 

750 

" 35 

"'38 

, 9 
129 
2 
25 
3 
39 
32 
50 

"*71 
84 
11 
25 
3 
12 
12 
67 

"*560 

12 

1 

78 

"*2i 

1 

34 

"ii 

36 

3 

2 

1 


Marshall 


991 

5,249 

11,728 

1,457 

5.863 

16,787 

3,604 

12,330 

4,435 

21,528 

18,654 

1,192 

2,091 

11,211 

5,874 

45,365 

5,347 

10,791 

22.385 

3,669 

4,387 

13,461 

3,855 

10,637 

21,954 

12,428 

3,908 

7,437 

6,129 

1,506 

16 149 

2.080 

12,376 

19,500 

5,101 

1,896 

27,175 

18,101 

5,882 


1 


Aitkin 


Martin ." 




Meeker 


11 
44 
12 
12 




Aiille Lacs 


Beltrami 


Morrison 

Mower 




Murray 


Blue Earth 


Nicollett 


3 




Nobles 




Olmsted 


15 
21 
173 

1 
222 




Otter Tail 




Pine 


Chippewa 


Pipe Stone 

Polk 


Clay 


Pope 


Cook 


Ramsey 


525 




Redwood 


28 


Crow Wing 


Renville 




Rice 


96 


Dodge 


Rock 


Douglass 


St. Louis 


137 
55 




Scott 




Sherburne 




Sibley 






iStearns 


2 




Steele 


32 




Stevens 


3 




Swift 






Todd 


4 




Tarverse 


1 




Wabasha 

Wadena 


57 






Kandiyohi 


Waseca 


g 


Washington 


63 




Watonwan 


3 




Wilkin 


10 




Winona 


72 




Wright 


3 




Yellow Medicine 


2 


McLeod 











CLASSIFICATION. 

Total population 780,713 

Whites born in Minnesota 299,850 

Colored born in Minnesota 2,541 

Whites other of United States 209,532 

Colored other of United States 1,174 

Total native born 513,097 

Scandinavian countries 1 07,770 

Germany and German speaking peopl e 77,505 

Great Britain, Ireland and English colonies 68,277 

Other countries 14,154 

Total foreign population 267,676 



APPENDIX R. 



RECORD OP STAFF OFFICERS, AND BRIEF REOIMENTAL HISTORIES. 

The following brief notices, based upon the reports of the Adjutant General 
of Minnesota, are appended for convenience of reference. 

FIRST REGIMENT, INFANTRY. 

'ColoncL "Willis A. Gorman. St. Paul : promoted Brigadier General, Oct. 1, 1861. 

Napoleon J.T. Dana. St. Paul ; promoted Brigadier General, Feb. 3, 1862. 

Alfred Sully, promoted Brigadier General. Sept. 26. 1863. 

George N. Morgan. Minneapolis ; resigned May 5. 1863. 

William Colville. Jr.. Red W ing ; discharged with regiment May 4, 1864. 
Lieut Coh Stephen Miller, St. Cloud : promoted Colonel 7th Minn. Inf'y, Aug., 1862. 

George X. Morgan. Minneapolis ; promoted Colonel. Sept. 26, 1862. 

William Colville. Jr.. Bed Wing ; promoted Colonel, May 6, 1863. 

Charles P. Adams. Hastings ; discharged with regiment, May 4, 1864. 
Major. William H. Dike, Faribault ; resigned. Oct. 22. 1861. 

George K Morgan. Minneapolis ; promoted Lieut. Col., Aug. 28, 1862. 

William Colville. Jr.. Bed Wing ; promoted Lieut. Col., Sept. 26, 1862. 

Charles P. Adams. Hastings ; promoted Lieut. Col.. May 6. 1863. 

Mark W. Downie, Stillwater ; discharged with regiment May 4. T864. 
Adjutant. William B. Leach. Hastings ; promoted Capt. and A. A. G., Feb. 23, 1862. 

John X. Chase, St. Anthonv ; promoted Capt. Co. G., Sept. 25, 1862. 

.Tobias B. King. St. Paul : promoted Capt, Co. E., July 2, 1863. 

John Peller. Hastings ; discharged with regiment, May 4, 1864. 
<Q. Master. Mark W. Downie, Stillwater ; promoted Capt, Co. B., July 16, 1861. 

George H. Woods, promoted Capt. and A. Q. M., Aug 13, 1861. 

Mark A. Hoyr. Bed Wing ; resigned, 1862. 

Francis Baasen, New Dim, discharged with regiment, May 4, 1864. 
Surgeon. Jacob H. Stewart, St. Paul ; transferred to skeleton regiment. 

William H. Morton. St. Paul ; resigned, June 23, 1863. 

John B. LeBlond. discharged with regiment, May 4, 1864. 
v4.sst Surg. Chas. W. LeBoutillier, St. Anthony ; transferred to Minn, skeleton regt. 

D. W. Hand. St. Paul bre vetted Lt. Colonel. 

John B. LeBlond. promoted Surgeon, Aug. 7, 1863. 

Edmund J. Pugsley, cashiered. Aug. 15. 1874. 

Peter Gabrielson, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment. May 4, 1864. 
Chaplain. Edw. D. Neill, St. Paul ; appointed July 13, 1862, Hospital Chaplain, U.S.A. 

F. A. Conwell, Minneapolis. 



Ordered to Washington, D. C, June 14, 1861. First Bull Run. July 21. 
1861: Edward's Ferry, Oct., 1861; Yorktown, Mav 7, 1862; Fair Oaks, June 
1, 1862; Peach Orchard, June 29, 1862; Savage Station. June 29, 1862: Glen- 
dale. June 30, 1862; Nelson's Farm, June 30, 1862; Malvern Hill, July 1, 
1862; Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862; first Fredericksburg, Dec. 11, 12 and 13; 
second Fredricksburg, May 3, 1863; Gettysburg, July 2 and 3, 1863, and 
Bristow Station. Discharged at Fort Snelling, Minn., May 4, 1864. 



APPENDIX. 



SECOND REGIMENT, INFANTRY. 

Colonel. Horatio P. VanCleve, St. Anthony ; promoted to Brig. Gen., March 21, '62- 

James George, Mantorville ; resigned June 29, 1864. 

Judson W. Bishop, Chatfleld ; discharged with regiment, July 11, 1865. 
Lieut. Col. James George, Mantorville : promoted Colonel. 

Alexander Wilkin, St. Paul ; promoted Colonel 9th Regiment Minnne- 
sota Vols., Aug. 26. 1862. 

Judson W. Bishop, Chatfleld ; promoted Colonel. 

Calvin S. Uline, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment. July 11, 1865. 
Mayor. Simeon Smith, appointed Paymaster II. S. A., Sept 17, 1861 

Alexander Wilkin, St. Paul, promoted Lieutenant Colonel. 

Judson W. Bishop, Chatfleld ; promoted Lieutenant Colonel. 

John B. Davis, St. Paul : resigned April 15, 1864. 

Calvin S. Uline, St. Paul, promoted Lieutenant Governor. 

John Moulton, St. Paul ; Discharged with regiment, July 11, 1865. 
Surgeon. Retinal Bingham, Winona, dismissed May 27, 1864. 

Moody C. Tolman, Anoka 

William Brown. 
Asst. Surg. Moody C. Tollman, Anoka, promoted to Surgeon. 

William L. Armington, St. Paul ; resigned, Feb. 23, 1863. 

William Brown, Red Wing ; promoted Surgeon. 

Otis Ayer, Le Sueur ; resigned, Dec. 23, 1863 
Adjutant. Daniel' D. Heaney, Rochester, promoted Captain Co. C. 

Samuel P. Jennison, St. Paul ; promoted Lieut. Col. 10th Minn Infantry, 
August, 1862. 

Charles F. Meyer. St. Paul ; promoted Captain Co. G. 

James W. Wood, St. Paid ; promoted Captain Co. B. 

George W. Shuman, St. Paul ; promoted Captain Co. D. 

Frank Y. Hoffstott, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment, July 11, 1865. 
Q. Master. William S. Grow, Red Wing ; resigned, January 28, 1863. 

S. De Witt Parsons, resigned July 30, 1864. 

John L. Kinney, Chatfleld ; discharged with regiment, July 11, 1865. 
Chaplain. Timothy Cressey, resigned Oct. 10, 1893. 

Levi Gleason, discharged with regiment, July 11, 1865. 
Organized July, 1861. Ordered to Louisville, Ky., October, 1861, and 
assigned to the Army of the Ohio. Engaged in the following marches, battles, 
skirmishes and sieges: Mill Spring, January 19, 1862; Siege of Corinth, 
April, 1862. Transferred to the Army of the Tennessee. Bragg' s raid; Perry- 
ville, October 8, 1862; skirmishes of the Tullahoma campaign; Chickamauga, 
September 19 and 20, 1863; Mission Ridge, November 25, 1863. Veteranized 
January, 1864. Baxtles and skirmishes of the Atlanta campaign, viz: Resaca, 
June 14, 15 and 16, 1864; Kenesaw Mountain, June 27, 1864; Jonesboro; 
Sherman's march through Georgia and the Carolinas; Bentonville, March 19,, 
1865. Discharged at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, July 11, 1865. 

THIRD REGIMENT, INFANTRY. 



Colonel. Henry C. Lester, Winona ; dismissed December l, 1862. 

Chauhcey W. Griggs. Chaska : resigned July 15, 1863. 

Christopher C. Andrews, St. Cloud ; promoted Brig. Gen. April 27, 1864. 

Hans Mattson, Red Wing ; discharged with regiment, Sept. 2, 1865. 
Lieut. Col. Benjamin F. Smith, Mankato ; resigned May 9, 1862. 

Chauncey W. Griggs, Chaska ; promoted Colonel, Dec. 1, 1862. 

Christopher C. Andrews, St. Cloud, promoted Colonel, July 15, 1863. 

Ivans Mattson, Red Wing ; promoted Colonel, April 15, 1864. 

Everett W. Foster, Wahashaw ; resigned May 22, 1865. 

James B. Hoit. discharged with regiment, Sept. 2, 1865. 
Major. John A. Hadley, resigned, May 1, 1862. 

Chauncey W. Griggs, Chaska ; promoted Lieutenant Col., May 29, 1862. 

Hans Mattson, Red Wing : promoted Lieutenant Col., July 15. 1863. 

Everett W. Foster, Wabashaw ; promoted Lieutenant Col., April 15, 1864,. 

Benjamin F. Rice, resigned before being mustered. 

William W. Webster, resigned, November 12, 1864. 

James B. Hoit, promoted Lieutenant Col., May 25, 1865. 
Adjutant. Cyrene H. Blakely, promoted Captain of Subsistence, June 13, 1864. 

Ephraim Pierce, St. Paul ; promoted Capt. of Co. F, April 17, 1865. 

Jed F. Fuller, appointed 1st Lieutenant of Co. A. 

Wiiliam F. Morse, promoted Captain of Co. F, July 19, 1865. 

Philander E. Folsom, discharged with regiment, Sept. 2, 1865. 



APPEND1H. 



Q. Master. Samuel H. Ingman, dismissed. December, 1, 18G2. 

James P. Howlett, resigned. March 2, 1864. 

William G. J. Akers, promoted Captain Co. I, Jan., 1865. 

George L. Jameson, promoted Captain Co. H. May 3, 18^. 

Bonde Oleson. Red Wing ; discharged with regiment, Sept. 2, 1865. 
Surgeon. Levi Butler, resigned, September 20, 1863. 

Albert G. Wedge, discharged with regiment, September 2, 1865. 
Asst. Surg. Francis H. Milugan, resigned, April 8, 1862. 

Albert C. Wedge, promoted Surgeon, September 22, 1863. 

Moses R. Greeley, discharged with regiment, September 2, 1865. 

Xanana Bixbv. discharged with regiment, September 2, 1865. 
Chaplain. Chauncev Hobart, resigned, April 13, 1863. 

B. F. Crarv, resigned. June 2, 1863. 

Simeon Putnam, died, September 11, 1864, at Afton, Minnesota. 

Anthony Wilford, discharged with regiment, September 2, 1865. 

Organized October, 1861. Ordered to Nashville, Tenn., March, 1862. 
Captured and paroled at Murfreesboro, July, 1862. Ordered to St. Louis* 
Mo. Thence to Minnesota. Engaged in the Indian Expedition of 1862- 
Participated in the battle of Wood Lake, September, 1862. Ordered to Little 
Rock, Ark., November, 1863. Veteranized January, 1864. Engaged in 
battle of Fitzhugh's Woods, March 30, 1864. Ordered to Pine Bluff, Ark., 
April, 1864, thence to DuVall's Bluff, October, 1864. Mustered out at 
DuvalPs Bluff, September 2, 1865. Discharged at Fort Snelling. 

FOURTH REGIMENT, INFANTRY. 

Colonel. John B. Sanborn, St. Paul ; resigned August 5, 1863. 

John E. Tourtellotte, Mankato ; discharged by order June 21, 1865. 
Lieut. Col. Minor T. Thomas, Stillwater ; promoted Col. 8th Minn. Inf.. Aug. 24, 1862 

John E. Tourtellotte, Mankato ; promoted Colonel. Sept, 16, 1S64. 

James C. Edson, Gleucoe ; discharged with regiment, July 19, 1865. 
Major. A. Edward Welch. Eed Wing ; died Feb. 1, 1862, at Nashville, Tenn. 

Luther L. Baxter, Shakopee ; resigned October 11, 1862. 

James 0. Edson, Glencoe ; promoted Lieut. Colonel Sept. 16, 1864. 

Leverett R. Wellman, discharged with regiment, July 19, 1865. 
Adjutant. John M. Thompson, promoted Captain Co. E, Nov. 20, 1862. 

William F. Kittridge, promoted Captain and A. A. G., Aug. 12, 1864. 

Watson W. Rich, promoted Captain Co. D, June 21, 1865. 

Frank S. DeMers, discharged with regiment, July 19. 1865. 
Q. Master. Thomas B. Hunt, Shakopee ; promoted Capt. and A. Q. M.. April 9, 1863. 

D. M. G. Murphy, St. Paul : promoted Capt. Co. B, Mav 3, 1864. 

Samuel W. Russell, discharged with regiment, July 19*1865. 
Surgeon. John H. Murphy. St. Paul ; resigned July 9. 1863. 

Elisha W. Cross, Rochester ; resigned December 22, 1864. 

Henrv R. Wedel, Winona ; resigned June 15, 18t 5. 
Ai&L Surg. Elisha W. Cross, Rochester ; promoted surgeon, Julv 9, 1863. 

Henrv R. Wedel, Winona ; promoted Surgeon, January 9, 1865. 

George M. D. Lambert, St. Paul : discharged with regiment, July 19, '65. 
Chaplain. Asa S. Fisk, resigned October 3, 1865. 



Organized December 23, 1861. Ordered to Benton Barracks, Mo., April 19, 

1862. Assigned to Army of the Mississippi, May 4, 1862. Siege of Corinth, 
April, 1862; luka, Sept. 19, 1862; Corinth, Oct. 3 and 4, 1862; Vicksburg, 
Julv, 1863. Transferred from 17th to 15th Corps. Mission Ridge, Nov. 25. 

1863. Veteranized, January, 1864. Altoona, July, 1864. With General 
Sherman, in march through Georgia and Carolinas, March. 1866. Mustered 
out at Louisville, Ky., July 19, 1865. Discharged at Fort Snelling. 



APPENDIX. 



FIFTH REGIMENT, INFANTRY. 



Colonel. Rudolph Borgesrode, Shakopee ; resigned, August 31, 1862. 

Lucius F. Hubbard, discharged by order, 1865. 
IAeut. Col. Lucius F. Hubbard, promoted Colonel, August 31, 1862. 

William B. Gere, discharged by order August 30, 1865. 
Major, William B. Gere, promoted Lieut. Colonel August 31, 1862. 

Francis Hall, resigned Apiil 30, 1863. 

John C. Becht, St. Paul ; discharged by order March 18, 1865. 

John P. Houston, Stillwater ; discharged with regiment, Sept. 6, 1865. 
Adjutant. Alpheus R. French, resigned March 19, 1863. 

Thomas P. Gere, discharged by order April 5, 1865. 

Alfred Rhodes, discharged with regiment, September 6, 1865. 
Q. Master. William B. McGrorty, resigned September 15, 1864. 

Francis G. Brown, discharged with regiment, September 6, 1865. 
Surgeon. Francis B. Etheridge. resigned September 3, 1862. 

Vincent P. Kennedy, discharged by order May 1, 1865. 

William H. Leonard, discharged with regiment, September 6, 1845. 
Asst. Surg. Vincent P. Kennedy, promoted Surgeon, September 3, 1862. 

William H. Leonard, promoted Surgeon, May 1, 1865. 

J. A. Vervais, St. Paul ; resigned April 3, 1863. 
Chaplain. James F. Chaffee, Minneapolis, resigned June 23, 1862. 



Organized May, 1862. Ordered to Pittsburg Landing, May 9. 1862. 
Detachment of three companies remained in Minnesota, garrisoning frontier 
posts. Participated in the following marches, battles, sieges and skirmishes: 
siege of Corinth, April and May, 1862. Detachment in Minnesota engaged 
with Indians at Redwood, Minnesota, August 18, 1862. Siege of Ft. Ridgely, 
August 20, 21 and 22, 1862. Ft. Abercrombie, D.T., August, 1862. Regi- 
ment assigned to 16th Army Corps. Battle of Iuka, September 18, 1862; 
Corinth, October 3 and 4, 1862; Jackson, May 14, 1863; Siege of Vicksburg; 
assault of Vicksburg, May 22, 1863; Mechanics-burg, June 3, 1863; Richmond, 
June 15, 1863; Ft. De Russey, La., March 14, 1864. Red River Expedition, 
March, April and May, 1864. Lake Chicot, June 6, 1864; Tupelo, June, 1864. 
Veteranized July, 1864. Abbeyville, August 23, 1864. Marched, in Septem- 
ber, 1864, from Brownsville, Ark., to Cape Girardeau, Mo., thence by boat to 
Jefferson City, thence to Kansas line, thence to St. Louis, Mo. Ordered to 
Nashville, Nov., 1874. Battles of Nashville, Dec. 15 and 16, 1864. Spanish 
Fort and Fort Blakely, April, 1865. Mustered out at Demopolis, Ala., Sept. 
6, 1865. Discharged at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. 



SIXTH KEGIMEMT, INFANTRY. 



Colonel. "William Crooks, St. Paul ; resigned Octoher 28, 1864. 

John T. Averill, Lake City ; discharged by S. O. W. D. 518, Sept. 30, 1865. 
Lieut. Col. John T. Averill, Lake City, promoted Colonel, Octoher 28, 1864. 

Hiram P. Grant, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment, August 10, 1865. 
Major. Robert N. McLaren, Red Wing ; promoted Col. 2d Minn. Cav. Jan. 12, '64. 

Hiram P. Grant, St. Paul ; promoted Lieut. Colonel, October 28, 1864. 

Hiram S. Bailey, discharged with regiment, August 19, 1865. 
Adjutant. Florian E. Snow, St. Paul ; resigned December 10, 1864. 

Alonzo P. Connelly, St. Paul, discharged with regiment, August 19, 1865. 
Q. Master. Henry L. Carver, St. Paul, promoted Capt. A. Q. M., April, 1864. 

Henry H. Gilbert, discharged with regiment, August 19, 1865. 
Surgeon. Alfred "Wharton, St. Paul ; resigned July 29, 1863. 

"Wallace P. Belden, discharged with regiment, August 19, 1865. 
Asst Surg. Jared W. Daniels, resigned, Dec. 28, 1863. 

Augustus O. Potter, died at Helena, Ark., September 13, 1864. 

James N. McMasters, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment, Aug. 19, 1865. 

Henry "Wilson, discharged with regiment, August 19. 1865. 
Chaplain. Richard B. Bull, resigned 1864. 

Daniel Cobb, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment, August 19, 1865. 



APPENDIX. 5 

Organized August, l c t"2. Detachment of 200 In battle with Sioux Indians 
at Birch Coolie, Sept. 2, 18(32: Wood Lake, Sept. 22, 1862. At frontier posts 
from Nov., 1862, to May, 1863. Indian Expedition, engaged in skirmishes, 
July, 1863. Ordered to Helena, Ark., June, 1864; to New Orleans, January 
18, 1865. Assigned to 16th Army Corps. In action at Spanish Fort and 
Fort Blakely, near Mobile. Discharged at Fort Snelling, August 19, 1865. 



SEVENTH REGIMENT, INFANTRY. 



Colonel. Stephen Miller, St. Paul ; promoted Brigadier General, Nov. 6. 1863. 

"Winiam R. Marshall, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment. 
Lieut. Col. William R. Marshall, St.. Paul ; promoted Colonel, Nov. 6, 1863. 

George Bradley, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment. 
Major. George Bradley, St. Paul, promoted Lieut. Colonel, Nov. 6, 1863, 

"William H. Burt, Taylor's Falls ; discharged with regiment. 
Adjutant John K. Arnold, "Wa bashaw ; promoted Captain Co. A, June 17, 1863. 

Edward A. Trader, St. Louis ; resigned February 3, 1865. 

A. J. Patch. Dubuque ; discharged with regiment. 
Q. Master. Ammi Cutter, Anoka ; promoted Captain and A. Q. M., May 6, 1864. 

Henrv C. Bolcom, Winona ; discharged with regiment. 
Surgeon. Jeremiah E. Finch. Hastings, resigned Mav 28, 1863. 

Lucius B. Smith, killed July 13, 1861 at battle of Tupelo. 

Albert A. Ames, Minneapolis ; discharged with regiment. 
Asst. Surg. Lucius B. Smith, promoted Surgeon, May 26, 1863. 

Albert A. Ames, Minneapolis ; promoted Surgeon, July 23, 1862. 

Brewer Mattocks, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment. 

Percival O. Barton. Pine Bend ; discharged with regiment. 
Chaplain. Oliver P. Light, resigned June 11, 1864. 

E. E. Edwards, Taylors Falls ; discharged with regiment. 

Organized August, 1862. In battle with Sioux Indians at Wood Lake, 
Sept., 1862. Indian Expedition of 1863. Ordered to St. Louis, Oct. 7, 1863. 
Paducah, Ky., April, 1864. Assigned to 16th Arrny Corps. Battle of Tupelo, 
July, 1864; Tallahatchie, August, 1864. In pursuit of General Price. Battle 
of Nashville, December, 1864. Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, near Mobile, 
April, 1865. Discharged at Fort Snelling, Aug. 16, 1865. 

EIGHTH REGIMENT, INFANTRY. 

Colonel. Minor T. Thomas, Stillwater ; discharged with regiment, July 11, 1865. 
IAeut. Col. Henry C. Kogers, Austin ; discharged by reason of wounds, May 15, '65. 
Major. George A. Camp, St. Anthony ; resigned May 2, 1865. 

Edwin A. Folsom, Stillwater ; discharged with regiment. 
Adjutant. George W. Butterfield promoted Capt. and A. A. G., March 15, 1865. 

Lewis C. Paxon, discharged with regiment. 
Q. Master. George L. Fisk. Mazeppa ; discharged per order May 15, 1865. 
Surgeon. Francis Keiger, St. Paul ; resigned April 10. 1864. 

John H. Murphy, St. Paul ; resigned January 12. 1865. 

Irvin H. Thurston, discharged with regiment. 
Asst. Surg. Irvin H. Thurston, promoted Surgeon. May 29, 1865. 

William H. Bouse, Eden Prairie ; discharged July n, 1865. 
Chaplain. Lauren Armsby, Faribault ; discharged with regiment. 

Organized August 1, 1852. Stationed at frontier posts until May, 1864, 
when ordered upon Indian Expedition. Engaged in the following battles, 
sieges, skirmishes Pnd marches: Tah-cha-o-ku-tu, July 28, 1864; battle of 
the Cedars, Overall^ Creek. Ordered to Clifton, Tenn., thence to Cincinnati, 
thence to Washington, thence to Wilmington, thence to Newbern, N. C. 
Battles of Kingston, March 8, 9, 10, 1865. Mustered out at Charlotte. N. C, 
July 11, 1865. Discharged at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. 



APPENDIX. 



NINTH REGIMENT, INFANTRY. 



Colonel. Alexander Wilkin, St. Paul ; killed July 14, 1864. in battle of Tupelo, Miss. 

Josiah F. Marsh, Austin ; discharged with regiment. 
IAeut. Col. Josiah F. Marsh. Austin ; promoted Colonel. July 27. 1864. 

William Markham. Rochester ; discharged, with regiment. 
Major. William Markham, Rochester ; promoted Lieutenant Col., July 27, 1864. 

Horace B. Strait. Shakopee ; discharged with reg ment 
Adjutant. Edward H. Cause, discharged with regiment. 
Q.Master. John P. Owens, discharged per order May 15, 1865. 
Surgean, Chas. W. LeBoutillier, St. Anthony ; died April 3, 1863, at St. Peter, Minn. 

Reginald H. Bingham, Winona ; discharged with regiment. 
Asst. Surg. Refine W. Twitchell. Chatfield : promoted Surg. 72dCol'd Inf. July 7, '64. 

John Dewey, St. Paul ; resigned September 11, 1863. 

John C. Dickson, discharged per order May 15, 1865. 

Edwin (i. Pugsley, discharged with regiment. 
Chaplain. Aaron H. Kerr, St. Peter ; discharged" with regiment. 

Organized August, 1862. At frontier posts until September, 1873. At 
Memphis, Tenn., May, 1864. Assigned to 16th Army Corps. Battle of 
Tupelo, July, 1864. Oxford Expedition, August. Tallahatchie, August. 
Pursuit of General Price. Battles of Nashville, December, 1864. [Spanish 
Fort and Fort Blakely, April, 1865. Discharged at Fort Snelling, August 
24, 1865. 



TENTH REGIMENT, INFANTRY. 



Colonel. 
Lieut. Col. 
Major. 



Adjutant, 
Q. Master. 

Surgeon. 
Asst. Surg. 



Chaplain, 



James H. Baker, Mankato ; discharged with regiment. 

Samuel P. Jennison, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment. 

Michael Cook, Faribault ; died Dec. 27, 1864, of wounds received in battle 

of Nashville. 
Edwin C. Sanders, Le Sueur ; discharged with regiment. 
James C. Braden, Brownsville ; discharged with regiment. 
George W. Greene, Clinton Falls ; resigned, March 23, 1864. 
Eden N. Levens, Faribault ; discharged with regiment. 
Samuel B. Sheardown, Stockton ; discharged with regiment. 
William W. Clark, Mankato ; resigned September 26, 1864. 
Alfred H. Burnham, dismissed October 23, 1863. 
Francis H. Milligan, Wabashaw ; discharged with regiment. 
Louis Proebsting, died October 31, 1864, at Cairo, Illinois. 
Cyrus A. Brooks, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment. 
Ezra R. Lathrop, resigned, October 27, 1864. 



Organized August, 1864. Stationed at frontier posts until June, 1863, when 
ordered upon Indian Expedition. Engaged with Indians July 24, 26, and 28 

1863. Ordered to St. Louis, Mo., October, 1863; thence to Columbus, Ky., 
April, 1864; thence to Memphis, Tenn., June, 1864, and assigned to 16th 
Army Corps. Participated in the following marches, battles, sieges and 
skirmishes : Battle of Tupelo, July 13, 1865. Oxford Expedition, August, 

1864. Marched in pursuit of Price from Brownsville, Ark. , to Cape Girardeau ; 
thence by boat to Jefferson City; thence to Kansas line: thence to St. Louis, 
Mo. Battles of Nashville, Tenn., December 15 and 16, 1864. Spanish Fort 
and Fort Blakely, April, 1865. Discharged at Fort Snelling, Aug. 19, 1865. 



ELEVENTH REGIMENT, INFANTRY. 



Colonel. James B. Gilfillan, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment. 
IAeut. Col. John Ball, Winona ; discharged with regiment. 
Major. Martin Maginnis, discharged with regiment. 
Adjutant. Horatio D. Brown, discharged with regiment. 



APPENDIX. 7 

Q. Master. Martin Maginnis, promoted Major September 13, 1864. 

Nathaniel C. Gault. discharged with regiment. 
Surgeon. Henry MeMahon, Fort Ripley : discharged with regiment. 
Asst. Surg. Peter Gabrielson, St. Paid ; discharged with regiment. 

Robert L. Morris, discharged with regiment. 
■■Chaplain. Charles G. Bowdish, Glencoe ; discharged with regiment. 

Organized August, 1864. Ordered to Nashville, Tennessee. Engaged in 
guarding railroad between Nashville and Louisville, until muster out of regi- 
ment, June 26, 1865. 



INFANTRY BATTALION. 

Lieut. Col. Mark W. Downie. Stillwater ; discharged with regiment, July 14, 1865. 

Major. Frank Houston. St. Paul : discharged with regiment. 

Adjutant. James H. Place. St. Cloud ; discharged with regiment. 

Q. Master. John W. Pride. St. Anthony : discharged with regiment. 

Surgeon. John B. LeBlonae. discharged with regiment. 

Asst. Surg. Charles H. Spear, Minneapolis ; discharged with regiment. 

Originally consisted of two companies, organized from the re-enlisted vet- 
erans, stay- over men, and recruits of the First Eegiment Minnesota Infantry 
Volunteers. Ordered to Washington, D. C, May, 1864: joined Army of the 
Potomac June 10, 186-4. Participated in the following engagements : Peters- 
burg. Va., June 18, 1864: Jerusalem Plank Roads, Va.. June 22 and 23, 1864; 
Deep Bottom, Va., July 27. 1864; Deep Bottom. Va.. August 14, 1864; 
Ream's Station, Va., August 25, 1864: Hatcher's Run. Va.. October 27, 1864; 
Hatcher's Run, February 5, 1865. Company C joined March 27, 1865. Took 
active part in campaign commencing March 28. 1865, and resulting in the 
capture of Petersburg, Va.. April 2, 1865. Four new companies joined at 
Berksville, Va., April, 1865. Marched from Berksville. Va.. to Washington, 
D. C. M .\y. 1865. Two new companies joined at Washington. Ordered to 
Louisville, Ky., June, 1865. Mustered out at Jeffersonville. Ind., July 14, 
I860. Discharged at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, July 25, 1865. 

HEAVY ARTILLERY, FIRST REGIMENT. 

Colonel. William Colville, Red Wing ; discharged bv order Mav, 1865. 
Lieut Col. Luther L. Baxter, Shakopee ; discharged with regiment. Sept., 1865. 
Major. Luther L. Baxter, Shakopee ; promoted Lieut. Col, February 22, 1865. 

Orlando Eddv, discharged with regiment. 

Christopher C. Heffeliinger, discharged with regiment. 

David Misner. discharged with regiment. 
surgeon. Milo M. Meade, Winona ; discharged with regiment. 

Clinton G. Stees, St. Paul ; resigned. June 24, 1865. 
Asst. Surg. Milo M. Meade, promoted July 19. 1865. 

J. C. fihodes, Stillwater, discharged. 
Chaplain. Charles Griswold, Winona ; discharged with regiment. 

Organized April, 1865. Stationed at Chattanooga, until mustered out with 
regiment, in September, 1865. 

SHARP SHOOTEBS, FIRST COMPANY. 

Francis Peteler, Captain, Anoka ; promoted Lieut. Col. 2d Reg't U. S. S.. Feb. 10, 1862. 
Benedict Hinler, 1st Lieutenant, promoted Capt.. Feb. 10. 1862 : resigned July 28, '62. 
Dudley P. Chase. Minneapolis : promoted 1st Lieutenant, Feb. 10, 1862 ; Capt. July 
18, 1862 : died of wounds in battle of Chancellorville, \ a. 



t> APPENDIX. 

SHARP SHOOTERS, SECOND COMPANY. 

Wm. F. Russell, Captain ; resigned Feb. 20, 1863. 

Emil A. Burger, Captain ; resigned Nov. 23, 1863. 

Mahlon Black, Captain. 

Emil A. Burger, 1st Lieutenant ; promoted Captain, Feb. 20, 1863. 

John A. W. Jones, 1st Lieutenant ; resigned May 26, 1863. 

Mahlon Black, 1st Lieutenant ; promoted Captain, Nov. 23, 1863. 

Louis Fitzimmons, 1st Lieutenant. 

John A, W. Jones, 2d Lieutenant ; promoted 1st Lieutenant, February 20, 1862. 

Mahlon Black, 2d Lieutenant ; promoted 1st Lieutenant. 

Daniel H. Priest, 2d Lieutenant. 

The company left St. Paul, Mi»n., April 21, 1862; reported by order of 
Maj. Gen. McClellan to the 1st Regt. U. S. S. S. at Yorktown, Va., May 6, 
1862. May 22, 1862, by special Order No. 153, issued by Maj . Gen. McClellan, 
the company was assigned for duty with the 1st Minn. Vols., and on duty with 
that regiment from June 1, 1862, and participating in all the engagements 
and battles of said regiment until its muster out from the U. S. service. All 
the enlisted men of the company whose term of service had not then expired, 
were transferred to companies A and B of the 1st Minn. Regiment Infantry, 
in pursuance of special Order No. 102, Head Quarters Army of the Potomac,, 
dated April 22, 1865. 



CAVALRY — MOUNTED RANGERS, FIRST REGIMENT. 

Colonel. Samuel McPhail, Caledonia; discharged with regiment. 
Lieut Col. William Pfamder, New Ulm ; discharged with regiment. 
Major. John H. Parker, Warsaw ; discharged with regiment. 

Salmon A. Buell, St. Peter : discharged with regiment. 

Orrin T. Hayes, Hastings ; Discharged with regiment. 
Adjutant. William M. Pierce, Oronoco ; discharged with regiment. 
Q. Master. Duncan R. Kennedy, St. Peter ; discharged with regiment. 
Com'issary. Edward D. Cobb, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment. 
Surgeon. Josiah S. Weiser, Shakopee ; killed July 24. 1863, battle Big Mound. D. T.. 
Asst. Surg. Reginald H. Bingham, Winona; resigned for promotion, May 7, 1863. 

James C. Rhodes, Stillwater; discharged with regiment. 
Chaplain. Thomas E. Inman, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment. 

Organized March, 1863. Upon the frontier until May, 1863. Indian Expe- 
dition. Engaged with Indians, Jaly 24, 26, 28, 1863. Mustered out by- 
companies between Oct. 1 and Dec. 30, 1863. 

CAVALRY — BRACKETT'S BATTALLION, 

Major. Alfred B. Brackett, St. Paul; discharged May 16, 1866. 

Originally 1st 2d and 3d companies of this cavalry organized October and 
November, 1861. Ordered to Benton Barracks, Mo., December, 1861. Assigned 
to a regiment called Curtis' Horse. Ordered to Fort Henry, Tenn., February, 
1862. Name of regiment changed to 5th Iowa cavalry, April, 1862, as com- 
panies G, D and K. Engaged in siege of Corinth, April, 1862. Ordered to 
Fort Heiman, Tenn., August, 1862. Veteranized February, 1864. Ordered 
to Department of Northwest, 1864. Ordered upon Indian Expedition. En- 
gaged with Indians July 28, and August, 1864. Mustered out by companies- 
between May, 1866 and June, 1866- 



appendix. y 

CAVALRY— SECOND REGIMENT. 

Colonel. Robert N. McLaren, iwru Wing; discharged with regiment, Nov. 17, 1865. 
Lieut. Col. William Plunder, New Ulm ; discharged Dec. 7, 1865. 
Major. Ebenezer A. Rice, Wilton; discharged Dec. 5, 1865. 

John M. Thompson, Hokah ; resigned May l, 1865. 

Robert H. Rose. Belle Plaine ; discharged April 2, 1866. 

John R, Jones, Chatfield ; discharged with regiment. 
Adjutant. John T. Morrison, Rose Mound ; discharged with regiment. 
Q. Master. Martin Williams, St. Peter; discharged with regiment. 
Reg. Com. Andrew J. Whitney, St. Paul ; discharged with regiment. 
Surgeon. Jared W. Daniels, St. Peter ; discharged with regiment. 
Asst. Surg, Joseph A. Vervais, St. Paul ; dismissed Nov. 5. 1864. 

John A. McDonald, Chaska ; discharged Dec. 4, 1865. 

Charles J. Farley, St. Paul ; discharged April 2, 1866. 
Chaplain. Samuel S. Paine, Champlin ; discharged with regiment. 

Organized January, 1864. Indian Expedition. Engaged with Indians, 
Julv 28, 1864. Stationed at frontier posts and mustered out from Nov., 1865, 
to June, 1866. 

CAVALRY — INDEPENDENT BATTALION. 

Lieut. Col. C. Powell Adams, Hastings ; discharged with battalion. 
Major. E. A. C. Hatch, St. Paul ; resigned June, 1864. 

C. Powell Adams, Hastings ; promoted Lieut. Col., September 5, 1864. 

Henning Von Minden, St. Paul ; discharged with battalion. 
Asst. Surg. John L. Armington, Hastings ; discharged March, 1864. 

Clinton C. Sfcees, Philadelphia ; promoted Surgeon 1st Regiment Minn. 
Heavy Artillery. 

Hippolite J. Seigneuret, Henderson ; discharged with battalion. 

Organized July 20, 1863. Ordered to Pembina, D. T., October, 1863. 
Ordered to Fort Abercrombie, D. T., May, 1864. Stationed at Fort Aber- 
crombie until mustered out. Mustered out by companies from April, 1866,. 
to June, 1866. 

ARTILLERY— FIRST BATTERY. 

Emil Mmfch, Captain, Chengwatana ; resigned December 25, 1862. 

William PLender, Sen. 1st Lieut., New Ulm ; resigned for commission in Minnesota 

Mounted rangers. 
Ferd. E. Peebles, Jun. 1st Lieut, Winona : resigned Aug. 18, 1862. 
Richard Fischer. Sen. 2d Lieut., New Ulm; resigned Aug. 18, 1862. 
G. Fred Cook, Jun. 2d Lieut., Winona; resigned October 18, 1862. 

Organized October, 1861. Ordered to St. Louis, December, 1861; thence 
to Pittsburg Landing, February, 1862. Engaged in the following marches, 
battles, sieges and skirmishes: Shiloh, April 5th and 6th, 1862; siege of 
Corinth, April, 1862; Corinth, October 3d and 4th, 1862; marched from 
Corinth to Oxford, Miss.; thence to Memphis, Tenn. Assigned to 17th Army 
Corps, November, 1862. _ Veteranized January, 1864. Ordered to Cairo, 
Illinois; thence to Huntsville, Ala. ; thence to Altoona, Ga.; thence to Ack- 
worth, Ga. ; battle of Kenesaw Mountain ; Atlanta, July 22d and 28th; Sher- 
man's campaign through Georgia and the Carohnas. Discharged at Fort. 
Snelling, Minn., June 30, 1865. 



10 APPENDIX. 



ARTILLERY — SECOND BATTERY. 

W. A. Hotchkiss, Captain, Anoka ; discharged with battery, Aug. 16, 1865. 
Gustave Eosenk, Sen. 1st Lieut., St. Paul ; discharged Sept", ll, 1862. 
Albert Woodbury, Jun. 1st Lieut., Anoka ; died from wounds. 
Jackson Taylor, Sen. 2d Lieut., Buffalo ; resigned April 24, 1862. 
Richard L. Dawley, Jun. 2d Lieut., St. Charles ; promoted 1st Lieutenant. 

Organized December, 1861. Ordered to St. Louis, Mo., April, 1862; thence 
to Corinth, May, 1862. Participated in the following marches, battles, sieges 
and skirmishes : Siege of Corinth, April, 1862: Bragg's raid. Assigned to 
Army of the Tennesse. Battle of Perryville, October 8th and 9th, 1862; 
Lancaster, October 12, 1862; Knob Gap, December 20, 1862; Stone River, 
December 30, 1862; Tullahoma. Marched to Rome, Ga., via Stephenson. 
Ala., Caperton's Ferry and Lookout Mountain; Chickamauga, Sept. 19 and 
20,1863; Mission Ridge; Ringgold, Georgia. Marched to relief of Knoxville, 
Tenn.; Buzzard's Roost Gap. Veteranized March, 1864. Nashville, Dec. 
15 and 16, 1864. Mustered out July 13, 1865. Discharged at Fort Snelling. 

ARTILLERY — THIRD BATTERY. 

John Jones, Captain, St. Paul ; discharged with battery. 
John C. Whipple. Sen. 1st Lieut., Faribault ; discharged with battery. 
Horace H. Western, Jun. 1st Lieut., St. Paul ; discharged with battery. 
Dr. A. Daniels, Sen. 2d Lieut., Rochester; resigned December 29, 1865.*" 
Gad M. Duelle. Jun. 2d Lieut., Lake City ; discharged with battery. 

Organized February, 1863. Ordered upon Indian Expedition of 1863; par- 
ticipated in engagement with Indians, July 24, 26 and 28, 1863; stationed at 
frontier posts until May, 1864, when entered upon Indian Expedition of 1864. 
Engaged with Indians July 28, 1864, and August, 1864; upon return of expe- 
dition, stationed at frontier post until muster out of battery, Feb. 27, 1866. 






GENERAL INDEX. 



FOR EVENTS DURING CIVIL WAR 1861 — 1865, SEE MILITARY INDEX. 



Accau. see Ako. 

Aitkin, trader at Sandy Lake, 428, 
432, 457 

Aitkin. Alfred 416, 421 

Aitkin. John 416 

Aitkin, William 416 

Aiton, J. F.; on stone heaps 187 

Ako, Michael, viii., ix., 127. 129, 183 
Albanel. Charles, Jesuit, 

Aldrich, Cyrus, M. C 773 

Allen, Lt. James, escorts School- 
craft in 1832, 403; makes a map 
of Itasca Lake, 407 ; canoe cap- 
iezed, 408; displeased with 

Schoolcraft 411 

Allen, Capt., military expedition .472 
Allouez, Claude, Jesuit, 107, 108, 111 

American Fur Co 298 

American Troops take Prairie du 

Chien 283 

Ames, Michael E 525, 547 

Anderson, trader's clerk 259, 261 

Andr£, Jesuit 120 

Andrews, C. C 774 

Anjelran, see Enjelran. 

Antaya of Prairie du Chien 236 

Apportionment by Legislature . . . 548 

Aquipaguetin, Sioux Chief 131 

Aricarees 54 

Arctic Explorers at St. Paul 615 

Armitinger, British trader 281 

Askin, John, British trader. 280, 281 

Assineboine River, 

Assineboines, 52,101,103,122,185 

" described by LeSueur. .166 

4 ' trading posts destroyed 231 



Astor. John Jacob 293, 475 

Atkinson, Col 337, 398, 412, 413 

Austin, Gov. Horace, notice of ad- 
ministration 759 

Averill, J. T., M. C., notice of,. . .774 
Ayer, Frederic, Chippeway teacher, 
424, 428, 431 



B 



Babasikamsiba. Chippeway Chief. 325 

Babcock. L.A.' 512,545 

Backus, Capt,, U. S. A 474 

Backus, Miss, teacher. . 520 

Bailly, British trader 283 

Bailly, Alexis, trader. 414,453,493,512 
Baker, B. F., trader. . . .382, 415, 453 

Balcombe, St. A. D 619 

Baldwin School , 587, 763 

Ball play, Indian 75, 273 

Bancroft. Historian, at St. Paul. .597 

Bank Robbery at Northfield 766 

Banning, W. L 767 

Barnes, Rev. Albert, xlix. 

Barrett, Indian trader 381 

Barton, Ara 760 

Bass. J. W 491,495 

Batchelder, G. W 774 

Bay des Puants, see Green Bay. 
Beauharnois, Gov. of Canada, 

183, 189, 191 
Beaux Hommes tribe, xix. 
Beaujeu killed at Fort Duquesne, 195 

Beaulieu, trader 533 

Beavers roasted lor food 258 

Becker, G. L 775 

Belanger, trader 405 

Belfour, Capt . 

Bellin's Description of America. .145 



2 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Beltrami at Fort Snelling, 33 t,342, 
379; described, 335; his bold 
project, 349; deserted by guide, 
353; his umbrella, 357; at Red 
Lake, 359; at northern source of 
Mississippi, 371; at west source 
of Mississippi, 371; at Leech 
Lake, 372; Sandy Lake, 377; 
at Falls of St. Anthony, 378 
Berthot Colin murdered, 

Bianswah, Indian Chief 220 

Bible, an old 477, 584 

Birch bark canoe, making of, 387, 425 

Bilansky, Michael, poisoned 640 

" " wife hung- 640 

Bird, a Red River voyageur 460 

Bishop, Harriet E 482 

Black, C. F 774 

Black, Capt, Mahlon 512 

Black Dog's village 342 

Black Hawk War, 280, 285, 414, 415 

Black River 103 

Black Feet Indians, 

Blein, French trader 144 

Bliss, Major U. S. A 412, 441 

Blodgett's Climatology, xxxiii. 

Boal,J.Mc 511 

Bobe, a learned priest. expo- 

ses La Hontan, on Pacific 

route, 
Boisguillot. Wis. trader, vi., 141, 143 

Borup, C. W., trader 416 

Bottineau, Pierre. . . 452 

Boucher de Niverville, xxi. 
Boucher, see La Perriere. 

Bourassa, a trader 311 

Boutill ier, C. W., see Mil. Index. 

Boutillier, Francis 320 

Boutwell, Rev. W. T., companion 
of Schoolcraft, 403; describes 
country, 409 — 10; visits Mcol- 
let, 418; threatened by Indians, 
421; at LaPointe Mission, 428; 
at Leech Lake, 432; marriage 
of, 439; at Stillwater, 483; let- 
ters from, 432—438. 
Bradley, Corporal U. S. A., 253, 256 

Braddock's defeat 195 

Bremer, Fredrika, at St. Paul. . .543 
Bridge, first across Mississippi. . .613 

BrisbimJ. B 615,618 

Brisbois, Michael 320 

Bnsette, a trader 520 

British influence 278, 329 

British Posts abandoned 239 

Brochets, tribe of, 

Brown, Joseph R., 331, 415, 452, 462, 
507, 519, 594 



Bruce, Indian Ag't 480 

Branson, B. W 495, 512, 522 

Brasky, Charles, trader. . = 227 

Buade. Louis, Count Frontenac .138 

Buell, D. L 764 

Buffalo, hunting of 449—451 

" last seen east of Mississ- 
ippi, 451 ; Marquette describes, 
448; Hennepin's picture, 451; 

Bulger, Capt 187 

Bulwer, SirE. L.,translates'Schil- 
ler's poem on Sioux Chief ... 59 

Bungo, a Negrojibway 324, 416 

Burial scaffold near St. Paul 412 

Burkleo, Samuel 511 

Burnett, Indian Agent 412 

C 

Cadillac, see Lamotte. 

Cadotte, Michael 280, 404 

Calhoun, John C 319 

Calhoun, Lake, why named 338 

Callieres, Gov. of Canada 137 

Cameron, Duncan of N. W. Co., 304 

305, 307. 308 

Cameron, Murdock, 242, 243, 268, 275 

276, 278 

Campbell, Colin 329 

Campbell, Duncan 382 

Campbell, John 382 

Campbell, Lt„ U. S. A. 285 

Camp Cold Water 321, 327 

Canadians robbed by Sioux. .164, 169 

Cannibalism. '. 281, 532 

Cannon ilnyanbosndata) River. .159 
Canoes of birch, how made. .389, 415 
Capital, proposed removal to St. 

Peter 318, 619 

Cartier, Jacques, explorer 99 

Carver's Cave, burial place, 207; 
Schiller's poem on Sioux Chief 
buried there, 89; Major Long's 
visit, 207, ,249; examined 

bv Nicollet, 208; Pike could not 
find it, 267. 
Carver, Jonathan, early life, 

202; at Prairie du Chien, 203; - 
description of Saint Anthony's 
Falls, xliv., 208; his Sioux vo- 
cabulary, 95; his short route to 
Pacific, 213; supposed origin of 
Sioux, 214; claim of his heirs, 
215 — 219; alleged speech over 
Sioux Chief, 211; Martha, his 
daughter, 216. 



GENERAL IXDEX. 



Cass, Gov. Lewis explorations. 320 
— 322: at Red Cedar, now Cass 
Lake. 323; at Camp Cold Water. 
325: at Fountain Cave. 325; at 
Little Crow's village. 326; in 
Winnebago war, 3y8. 

Catlin, George, artist 416 

Cavanaugh, J. M., M. C 772 

Census of Minnesota, xlix., 505, 508 
Chambers, Sioux Commissioner. .518 

Champlain, the explorer 99 

Charleville's description of St. An- 
thony Falls, xliv. 
Charlivoix on the word Sioux, 51 ; 
describes Isle Pele6, 148; alludes 
to blue earth, 171. 
Chatfield, Judge A. G. .589, 773, 776 

Chavigny, a voyageur 120 

Chegoimegon, see La Pointe 

Cherrotiere, a voyageur 120 

Chevalier Amable 237 

Chevennes ... 54 

Chickasaws .178, 229 

Chippeways (also called Ojibways, 
Achipoue, Outchipoue"s, Chip- 
ou6s, Chippeweighs, and Saul- 
teurs) 102, 107, 108, 112, 113, 
139, 148, 149, 177. 
180, 181. 197, 199, 212, 223, 245; 
attacked by Sioux, 108, 224, 338, 
339, 340, 392, 402; at Rum River 
and St. Croix, 457, 463, 526; 
attack Sioux, 405. 454; at Fort 
Snelling, 456, 462,463. 469, 471; 
protected at Fort Snelling. 392, 
474 ; woman recovers after being 
scalped, 386; kill a Sioux girl 
in Hennepin county, 608. 
Chippeway Chief, Flat Mouth.. 260 
405, 407 

" Old Sweet 261 

" DeBreche,..261,323 
44 Hole-in-the-Dav.454 
" " Jr. 52-7,551 
Chippewav Missions, 425,432,453,464 
467, 470, 550 
Chippeway Missionaries, Rev. W. 
T. Boutwell, 403, 421, 432; Rev. 
Sherman Hall, 404, 425, 427, 
431. Frederic Ayer, teacher, 
425.428, 470; E. F. Ely, teach- 
er, 432, 468. 

China, route to 135 

Chouteau visits Osages 247 

Clark, Capt. N 321, 333, 392 

44 Col. Geo. R 229 

44 Governor 283, 327, 335 

44 Agent of Carver Claim. . .216 



Climate of Minnesota, xxxii. 
Clough, W. P. argument before 

U. S. Supreme Court 761 

Clou tier Alex., liquor seller 578 

Cobb, Rev. D. 759 

Coe, Rev. D. at Fort Snelling. . . .399 

Colbert, Minister of France, 145 

Columbia Fur Co 330. 342, 391 

Constitutional Convnt'n, 626,627,628 
Cooper. Judge D. .502, 503, 509, 775 
Council of Pike with Sioux 243 

44 at Prairie du Chien 383 

Coquard, Rev. Claude, 195 

4 ' letter on death of St. Pierre, 
Corn, Indian mode of gathering. 444 

Couriers des Bois 116, 117, 171 

Courts, first in Minnesota 509 

Cox, E.St. J 775 

Crawford, British trader 281 

44 County, Wis 320 

Cree insults a Sioux Ill 

Cresafi, Chevalier, 148 

Cretin, R. C, Bishop 585 

Cristenaux, 

Crow River 253 

44 petrifactions, a hoax. .576 

Crow Wing battle 222 

Cullen, W. J 773 

Culver, George 485, 486 

Curry, Thomas 231 

D 

Dablon, Jesuit missionary 120 

Dakotah, meaning of 59 

Dakotahs, see Sioux. 

Davis, Gov. CushmanK 760, 661 

Day, Dr. David 520, 580 

Deace, trader. . ; 280, 283 

De Caumont, Sieur 144 

DeCorbiere . = .199 

Default of N. W. Co 2:33 

Dekorah, Winnebago Chief. 397, 414 
De la Barre, Gov., ... 138, 140 

De la Corne succeeds St. Pierre, 
De la Tour, Jesuit, 
De la Tourette, brother of DuLuth, 

142 
De Lignery, 180; attacks Fox In- 
dians, 185, 189; at Braddock's 
defeat, 195. 
DeTIsle, his maps, xlvi. 

De Lorimer. .... 197 

DeLusignan visits Sioux 191 

Democratic Party orgamzes 518 

Denonville, Gov,, 149 

Denis, early trader 160 

De Noyelles succeeds Verendrye, 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Detroit attacked 157 

D'Evaque in charge of fort at Blue 

Earth, xvi 175 

Devenport, Ambrose 416 

William.... 416 

De Vincennes at Detroit 177 

De Peyster, British commander at 
Mackinaw, 228 ; verses on Wa- 
pasha, 228; notice of, 229. 

Dewey, J. J 495,512 

D'Iberville, Gov. of Louisiana, ex- 
poses Hennepin, viii; his report, 
171; list of Indian tribes, 171. 
Dickson, Col. Robert, 236, 237, 250 
251, 261. 263, 267, 276, 279, 280, 
283, 287. 290, 291. 
Dickson, William, trader at Lac 

Traverse 382, 451 

Dieskau, Baron 195 

Dinwiddie, Gov. of Virginia 195 

Dirty Indian villages 97 

Dodge, Gen. defeats Black Hawk, 

402; treats with Sioux 453 

Dog meat valued 80, 376 

Donnelly, Ignatius, M. C. . . .645, 773 

Doty, Sioux Commissioner 469 

Douglas, Capt 322 

Dousman, H. L .242, 283, 590 

Dreuilletes, Gabriel, Jesuit, 102, 113 

120 

Drovers maltreated by Sioux 472 

Drunkenness among Sioux 510 

Dubuque, Julien 236 

Dufault, Louis, trader 416 

Dugas, William 512, 518 

Du Gay, Picard 127. 129, 133 

DuLuth(or DuLut, Dulhut, De 
Luth, 121, 122 

137, 138, 140, 141, 142. 

Dunn, Judge Charles 483 

Dunnell, Mark H., M. C 774 

Duprat 120 

Dupuis 120 

E 

Earth Works 204, 408 

Eastman, Capt., U. S. A 485 

" Mrs., poem on seal of 

Minnesota 517 

Eatonville on Lake Calhoun 399 

Election, first in Minnesota 507 

Election returns 520 

Elk Lake, now Itasca 371 

Elk River 209 

Ellett, Mrs. describes Ft. Snelling, 335 
Ely, E. P., Indian teacher, 432, 466 
English strife for the West 179 



Enjalran, Jesuit Missionary, 
F 



141 



Fairbanks, J. H., trader 416 

Falls of St. Anthony described by 
Barnes, xlix; Beltrami, 377; 
Boutwell, 410; Carver, xliv; 
Charleville, vliv; Hennepin, 
xlii; Long, Penicaut, 

garrison mill at, 377, 399, 409; 
first literary address at, 521; first 
steamboat at, 527; first steam- 
boat above, 534. 
Falls of St. Croix, fight at, 223; 

early settlers, 415. 
Falls of St. Mary, council of 1671, 

120 

Faribault, Alexander 338, 533 

J.B 415,455 

Oliver 532 

Pelagie 453 

Featherstonhaugh, geologist, 416. 442 

'47a 

Ferry, Rev. W. M 424 

Fillmore, Ex-Pres't, at St. Paul. .597 

Finley, trader 381 

Findley, John 220 

Fire, the first in St. Paul 528 

Fireworks at Fort Beauharnois. .183 

Fish in lakes numerous 436, 439 

Fish dance, 76; at Kaposia 528 

Fisher, trader at Prarie du Chien, 242 

Flag hoisted at Itasca Lake 407 

Flandrau, Chas. E 625 

' ' see Military Index. 
Fletcher, Winnebago Agent, 483,484 
Flour mill explos n at Minneapolis,769 

Flood at Red River 380 

Flood ofl728 184 

Forbes, W. H., 495, 507, 509, 511, 533 

Ford, John A 518 

Ford, Dr. John D 635 

Forney, John W 609 

Forsyth, Major 322 

Forsyth, T. , in 1819, at Mendota, 
Fort Beauharnois, Lake Pepin, 

783 
" Bourbon, 

" Crawford 397 

" Crevecceur 127 

" Douglas 311 

" Edward 196 

" Frontenac 124, 142 

' ' George ( Wm . Henry) 202 

" Green Bay 203 

" Jonquiere, 

" LaReine, 30O 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Fort Le Sueur, xvi., xlvi 148 

" L'Huillier, xvi., xlvi 164 

" McKay 283 

" Orange 126 

" Prairie du Chien 283 

" Perrot 138,145 

M Shelby 283,284 

Fort Snelling. first troops at 319 

Camp Cold Water. 321; corner 
stone laid, 321 ; first birth at, 327 ; 
grave yard, 327; first steam- 
boat arrival, 333; Indian fight 
in 1827, 338; church organized, 
443; Indian troubles at, 456; 
squatters removed, 459; mar- 
riage at, 523; Indian council in 
1850, 528. Indians hung at, 757 

Fort St, Charles 300 

" St, Nicholas 300 

11 St. Pierre. 
Fourcelles, Chevalier de la, 
Fourth of July celebration, 1849. .504 

Fox, Chief, speech of 151 

FoxfOutagamis Renards) Indians, xiii. 
109, 111. 138, 139, 150, 155, 176, 180 
200, 203, 223. 230. 273, 400; pe- 
culiar language, 176; attack De- 
troit, 177: kill traders, 189; de- 
feated, 190; fight at St. Croix 
Falls, 223. 

Franklin, Sir John 615 

Franks. Indian trader 281 

Franquelin. maps of, 

Freeborn. Mr 620 

Fremont, John C 420 

Frobisher Brothers 231 

Fronchet, a voyageur 418 

Fuller, A. G 507 

Fuller, Judge Jerome 563 

Furber, Joseph W 511, 618 

Fur trade, mode of 118, 119, 294 

" " value of .330 

Fur traders' life, 115, 116, 178, 232 
429, 430 



G 



Gagnier killed by Red Bird 395 

Galena lead mines 139, 155 

Galissoniere, Gov. of Canada. 

Gamelle's wife killed 469 

Gardiner. Charles 615 

Gardiner family killed by Sioux. .622 
Garreau, Jesuit Missionary. .102, 104 

Gear, Rev. E. G 521, 534, 574 

George, James C 777 

Gervais, Pierre, early settler 390 

Gervais, B 472 



Giard, trader at Prairie du Chien. 236 

Gilman, J.M 773 

Girl disguised as Indian boy 84 

Glengary Fencibles 309 

Goddard, British trader 199 

Goodhue, Jams M., first editor. 495 

547,574 

Gooding, Capt. U.S.A., , . .327 

Goodrich, Judge A. 502, 503, 509, 563 

Goodrich, Earle S., editor 394 

Gorelle, Lieut, at Green Bay 200 

Gorman, Gov. W. A., see Military 
Index, 588, 589, 593, 612, 614, 616 

Graham, Duncan 317, 395, 397 

Graham, of Red Wing 772, 775 

Grandin, Francis 382 

Grand Portage 232 

Grant, British trader. . .255, 257, 259 

261. 263, 310 

Grasshoppers, years 1818, 1819. .316 

" 1874, 1875.. 766 

Gravier, Jesuit Missionary, 

Gray Iron, Indian Chief 62 

Greelev, Elam 471 

Green Bay . . .148, 199 

Griffin, Lasalle's, ship 127 

Grignon, Pierre 236, 337 

Groselhers, early explorer, 

103, 141 

Groselliers River. 113 

Gros Ventres Indians, 

Guerin, voyageur 106 

Guignas, Jesuit Missionary. .183, 186 

Guillet, voyageur, vi. 

Gun, a grandson of Capt, Carver, 299 



H 



Haha. Sioux name for waterfall, xli. 
Half-breed tract on Lake Pepin. .400 
Hall. Rev. Shemian, Chippeway 
Missionary, 425; arrived at La 
Pointe, 428; visits Lacdu Flam- 
beau, 429; extracts from jour- 
nal, 425—428. 

Hamilton, W. S 412 

Harpole, Paul killed 286 

Hams, early trader 233, 236 

Harvest of 1877 767 

Hatch, E. A. C, see Military In- 
dex 289 

Hayaer, Judge H. Z 578 

decision on liquor law. .579 

Hayokah. Sioux divinity 56 

Haypeedan, Sioux warrior 289 

Hebert, a voyageur 144 

Heckle, Sergeant, U, S. A 338 

Hempstead, Capt 28ft 



GENERAL INDEX, 



Hennepin County created 565 

Hennepin, Louis, Franciscan, early- 
life, 124; unreliable, his 
map, xlvi ; jealous of the Jesuits, 
xlvi; captured by Sioux, 65, 128; 
chants the litany, 129; near St. 
Paul, 131 ; walks to Mille Lacs, 
131; his steam bath, 132; bap- 
tizes an infant, 132; last days 
of, 137. 

Henniss, C. J., editor 545 

Herbin, French officer ; 197 

Herschell's, Sir John, translation of 
Schiller's poem on Sioux Chief, 89 

Hess, Indian trader 331 

Historical Society, 1st public meet- 
ing- and annual address 522 

Hobart, Rev. Chauncy 522 

Hohays, see Assineboines. 

Holcomb, William, letter to 491 

Hole-in- the-Day, Sr 454 

Jr., 527,533,534,552 
Holmes, Thomas, old settler, 401,512 

518 
Hopkins, Rev. Robert, Sioux Miss- 

sionary... 471,539,537 

Horses, Indians 1 mode of buying,561 

Hosford, Miss A 520 

Houghton, Edward 217 

Housekeeping, primitive 439 

Hudson Bay Co 301, 307, 318 

Huff, H. D .;;•••• 775 

Huggins, Alex., mission farmer, 

442, 462 

Hughes, James, editor 508 

Humboldt on accidental analogies,215 
Hurons 106, 108,114 

I 

Impeachment of William Seeger, 
State Treasurer 760 

Impeachment of Sherman Page, 
Judge 10th district 769 

Indian ball play 75, 273 

" bravery at Pokegama 467 

" chants 64, 70 

" cruelty 70 

" doctors 66, 67 

" dog-dance 76 

" fish-dance 501 

" fops 73 

" games 74 

" idea of horses 561 

" legends 90—94 

" ' mourning 445 

" priests 61 

" suicides 84 



Indian traders 381 

" warfare 193 

" wives 72 

Indians, tribes or bands of — 

Algonquin Ill, 194 

Aricarees 54 

Arkansas 95, 173 

Assineboine,xx. 52,101,111,122,166 

Bayogoulas 172 

Biloxi 173 

Canses (Kansas) 173 

Chactas (Choctaws) 173, 229 

Cheyennes 54 

Chicachas (Chickasaws)173, 178,229 
Chippeways (Achipou6s, Out- 
chipoue's, Saulteurs) 77,102,108, 
112,113,139,148,149,177,180,181 
197,199,212223,245. 

Conchas 173 

Colapissa 173 

Cristinaux Ill 

Crows, 

Folle Avomes, 194,197,250,251,253 

265 
Foxes(Outagamis,Renards) xiii, 109 
111, 138, 149, 150, 158,176,180 197 
200, 203, 223, 230, 273, 400. 

Hurons 106, 108, 111, 114, 139 

Illinois. 108, 111, 120, 128, 155, 177 
loways (Ayo6s,Ayavois,Aiou6s) 
54,154,162,164,173,176,186,197,200 

Iroquois 114, 140, 146,152 

Kaskaskias 194 

Kickapoo (Quincapoos) 154,157,173 

186 

Mantanes (Mandans) xix., xx.,.173 

Mascoutens, 138, 143,147 

173, 174 

Massachusetts 55 

Menomenees 150, 203, 400 

Miamis, 128, 130, 138, 148, 150 

173, 174,197 

Missisagues 194 

Missouri 173,177 

Mohawks, 

Nadoches 173 

Nez Perces 120 

Nepissings 194 

Omahaws 54, 166, 173 

Osages 154, 177 

Ottawas (Outaouacs) 112 120, 146 
147, 194, 196, 197 

Ouma (Houmas) 173 

Ottoes (Otoctatas) 54, 162, 164, 165 
166, 173 

Panis (Pawnees) 1734 

Paoutees (Prates?). 153 

Pascagoulas 177 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Indians, tribes or bands of— 
Petite Cense tribe, 

Pottawatomies 156, 194, 197 

Puants (Winnebagoes) 100. 14:3 
155, 194, 197, 273. 394, 398, 484 
Sauks, 109. 15'?, Ic5, 176, 180, 200 

203 

Senecas 140 

Sioux (Nadouessioux, Nadouessi, 

Nadouessiouack, Dakotahs,) 

102.|107, 111, 112, 120, 122, 143, 

144,154,206,210. 

Issati (Isanyati) . .51, 134, 152 

Ihanktonwan (Y akton, Hinhan- 

netons) vii 52, i70, 225 

Mendeoucantons. 51, 164, 165 

169. 170, 230, 400 

Mantantons 144, 165, 166, 169 

Ouadebatons (Houetbatons)122, 170 

Ouagetgeodatons 170 

Ouapetons (Wakpa-atons) 144, 170 

225 

Outemanetons 170 

Oueretgeodaton 170 

Oujalespoitons 164, 166, 170 

Psincbatons 170 

Psinoutanhkintons, .170 

Psinchatons 170 

Sioux of the West. .162, 163, 170, 218 

Sioux of the East 162, 170, 218 

Snake Indians, xix. 

Tonicas . . .173 

Taensas 173 

Indiana Territory organized .240 

Inkpadootah's attack on settlers in 
Southwestern Minnesota. 622 — 625 

Iowa Territory organized 416 

Irvine, John R 495, 520 

Isle Pelee*, xv 148 

Itasca, Latin jargon 407 



Jackson, Henry, early settler, 479, 512 

518 

Japan, route to 135 

JaiTot, Nicholas 273, 278 

Jarvis. Surgeon U. S. A 446 

Jay's treaty 238 

Jeffries of Columbia Fur Co 330 

Jemerays, Verendrye's nephew, 

Jobin, French trader 149 

Tohnson, Gov 195, 212 

John, trader 281 

Judge 320 

•; Parsons K 512, 52 

Joliet, French explorer 120 



Jones, J. R 773 

Jonquiere, Gov., 

Judicial districts organized 502 



K 



Kalm's, Prof, account of Veren- 

drye, xx 189 

Kamanistigoya, v 194, 230 

Koposia, Sioux band, 131,281,326,480 
Kawimbash Falls, xl. 
Kay, English trader, 199,233,235,236 
Keating. Wm. H. Mineralogist. .341 

Keelboats attacked 396 

Kettle River Falls, xl. 

Kevenev, Owen of H'ds'n Bay Co. 312 

Kildonan Settlement 304, 308 

King, Carver's grandson 284 

44 Oscar 525 

" William S., M. C 775 

Kingsbury, W. W., delegate to 

Congress 771 

Kinie, Francis, trader 453 

L 

La Come, French officer 189 

La Croix 281 

Lagumioniere robbed 309 

La Harpe's Narrative 190 

La Hontan 142 

Laidlaw takes grain from Prairie 

du Chien to Pembina 317 

Lake Alempigon (Nepigon) .109 

" Big Stone..: 317,322 

" Buade (Isantamde, Mille 

Lacs) xl., xlvii., 122, 139, 231 
" Calhoun, origin of name. . .338 

" Cass (Red Cedar) 323 

" Dauphin, 

" George (St. Sacrament) 197 

•■ Harriet 338,456 

44 Itasca 407 

" Leech 372,377 

' ' Ouisconches (Wisconsin ) . . . 144 
" Pepin (Des Pleurs) xlvi., 131 
1 59 ; fort built at, 183 ; earth- 
works, 203; old fort, 206. 

" Superior (Tracy) 110 

44 Rainy 301 

" Traverse 317,302 

44 Winnipeg 300 

44 Woods, - 300,463 

Lakes of Minnesota, xxxav. 

Lambert, David 495, 507, 519 

Heniy A 511,518,520 

Lamberton. H. W 773 

Lamonde. .' 123, 124, 125 



8 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Lamont, Indian trader 382 

Lamotte Cadtillac 147 

Landsing, trader killed 200 

Landslide at Stillwater 573 

Langlade 196, 230 

La Perriere du Boncher attacks 
Haverhill; builds fort at Lake 

Pepin, 183 

La Place, voyageur killed 160 

LaPlante 197 

Larpentear, A.. L 491, 518 

La Salle ..119,123,127 

La Taupine (see Taupine) 

Lea, Luke, Sioux Commissioner. .556 

Leach, Calvin 471 

Leavenworth, Gen. U.S.A., 217 

320, 325 

Le Due, Philip 194 

W.G 545 

Leech Lake 372, 377, 456 

Legardeur, Augustin 144 

Legend of Anpetu Sapa 91 

" of Eagle Eye 91 

" of Scarlet Dove 91 

of Maidens Rock 93 

" ofMendota 90 

St. Anthony Falls 92 

St. Croix River 94 

Legislature of Territory, 1st sessn511 
44 names of officers and mem- 
bers.. ...511,512 

44 organizes new counties 513 

" sends Red Pipestone for 
Washington monument ... 513 

" second, 1851 546 

" names of members 546 

" third, 1852 564 

" names and occupations of 

members 564 

" fourth, 1853 580 

" members of 580 

" railway predictions 581 

44 fifth, 1854 592 

44 members of 593 

" railroad discussion 594 

11 sixth, 1855 613 

" officers of 613 

1 ' railway bill passed over veto 614 

" seventh, 1856 615 

44 officersof 615 

" members of 617 

" eighth, 1857 618 

" officers 618 

41 ' special session 626 

44 of State, first, Dec, 1857. .628 

44 elect U. S. Senators 628 

44 second, January, 1860 632 

44 third, 1861 640 



Legislature, educational policy. . .640' 

Legro shot 460 

Le Maire murdered, v. 

Lemire, trader 144 

Leslie, Lt 199* 

Le Sueur mentioned, 73, 86; com- 
panion of Perrot, 144; at 
LaPointe, 148; builds fort 
below Hastings, 148; describes 
Assineboines, 53; takes chief to 
Montreal,xv.,148; visits France, 
151, 155; ascends Minnesota 
River, 162; builds fort L'Huil- 
164; returns to France, 171, 172; 
his fort abandoned, 175. 
Lewis and Clark's expedition, 341 

L'Huillier, fort 164 

Linctot, Ensign at La Pointe, 181, 183 

Lisa, Manuel a trader 286 

Little Crow. . .243, 338, 411, 464, 465- 

Liquor Law 565, 572, 579 

Livingston, trader 281 

Lochren, William 777 

Lockwood, trader 380- 

Loomis, D. B 547 

Col. G. A., U.S. A. 412, 442 

Long,Lt. J 229 

44 Major Stephen H., U. S. A. 
exploration of, 1817, ' 229; 
expedition to Red River, o41, 
LongeuiJ, Gov. of Canada. .181, 189 
Longfellow alludes to Red Pipe- 
Stone Quarry 515 

Lott,B. W 518,520 

Louis XIV.,dispatches of, 137,140,153 

Louisiana ceded 240 

Upper .241 

Louvigny, commander at Macki- 
naw, xii., 146, 147; defeats Fox- 
es, 178, 179. 

Lowry, S. B < 486- 

Loyer, voyageur 397 

LuU, C.V.P 495,520 

Ludden, John D 620 

M 

Macalester College, see Baldwin 

School. 

Mackenzie, Alex., explorer 332' 

Mackey, Lieut 322 

Mackinaw surprised by British, 280; 

fur company, 293; mission school, 

424. 
Mahkahto or Blue Earth River. .162' 

Mahzakotah at Fort Snelling 328 

Mail routes of 1850 524 

44 carrier to Fort Snelling 415, 



GENERAL INDEX. 



9 



Majegabowi kills Gov. Sample. . .311 

Malamek, Michigan 148 

Mantanton Sioux 144 

Map of Philip Buache, xlvii. 

' of Canada, xlvi. 

" of Champlain 100 

'■ of Coronellis, xliv 131 

44 of DeL'Isle, xlvi 145 

44 of Franquelin, 

44 of Hennepin, xlvi. 

44 of Jeffreys, xlvii 145 

14 of Louisiana 164 

14 ofOtchagas, 

44 of Tillemon, xlv. 

" of west of Lake Superior. . .188 
Marble family attacked by Sioux, 623 

624 
Marest, Jesuit Missionary, 148,154 
Mann, Lamarque de, 
Margry, Pierre, 
Marquette, Jesuit Missionary, 111,423 

Marriage at Fort Snelling 523 

Marsh, John, Sioux Interpreter. .412 
Marshall, Gov. W. R., 489, 512, 520 

614; Military Index, notice of, 758 

Martin, Abraham, pilot 103 

Martin, Morgan L 488 

Massacre Island, 301 

Sioux 716—738 

Massey, Louis, early settler 390 

Matavet, Abbe" 197 

Mather, Cotton on Indian religion, 55 

Prof., Geologist 416 

Maury, on Minnesota climate, xxxii. 
May, Capt., Lord Selkirk's agent, 318 

Mayall, Samuel 759, 760 

McDonnell, Alex, of N. W.Co.305,307 

Gov. Miles 307,314 

McGilles, Hugh, at Leech Lake.. 259 

261 

McGregory 141 

McKay, Capt., attacks Ft. Shelby, 284 

McKay, of N.W. Co 284 

McKean, Elias 471 

McKenney,Thos.L., Indian Com'r,384 
McKenzie of Col'mbia Fur Co.306,330 
McKusick, John, of Stillwater. . .471 
McLean, Nathaniel, editor.. 508, 530 
McLeod, Norman, of N. W. Co. .312 

McLeod, Martin 452, 473, 546 

McLellan, of N. W. Co 313 

McMillan, Isaiah, trial of 525 

McMillan, S. J. R., U. S.Senator777 

McNair, Sheriff, Thos 320, 394 

McNair, W. W 775 

McNamara, Capt. John 229 

McTavish, of Montreal 231 

Medary, Gov. Samuel 626 



Medicine Men 61, 66 

Dance 62 

Meek, Corporal, U. S. A 262 

Meeker, Bradley B. . . .502, 505, 509 

Menard, Ren6\ Jesuit Missionary, 
at Lake Superior, 105; lost in 
Wisconsin, 106. 

Mendeouacanton River, see Rum. 
44 Sioux, 51, 129, 164, 165, 169, 176 

230 

Mendota in 1819, 320,321; 

Gov. Cass at, 325. 

Messayer, French Missionary at 
Pigeon River, 

Methode, a half-breed, killed 394 

Michigan Territory orgamzed,241 ,400 

Mill, first in Chippeway Valley. .330 
44 44 at Black River Falls... 298 
11 - l grist above Pr.du Chien,298 
" 44 atFallsofSt.Anthony.331 

44 44 at Stillwater 471 

44 explosion at Minneapolis . . . 

Mille Lacs (Lake Buade) see Fran- 
quelin's inap, xl., xlvii., 122,130,231 

Miller,Gov.Stephen, notice of,757; 
Lt. Col. of 1st Reg't, at Bull 
Run, 684; Col. of 7th, 757; 
Brig. Genera], 757. 

Minneapolis, largest city in State, 
Appendix D, 
44 mill explosion 769 

Minnesota, meaning of word, 1; 
boundaries of, xxxii.; lakes of, 
iv.; waterfalls, xl.; steps to or- 
ganize a Territory, 488,489,490; 
convention at Stillwater, 491; 
act for organization, 493, 494; 
proclamation of Gov. Ramsey, 
502; the first courts, 503; first 
election, 507; first execution of 
death penalty, 611; first white 
person nung, 640; act to form a 
State Constitution, 626; consti- 
tional convention, 627. 

Missouri Territory organized 406 

Missionaries, Chippeway, 403,404, 
421, 425, 427, 431, 432, 468, 470; 
Sioux, 56,84, 96, 441, 442, 447, 
471, 480, 540, 562, 720. 

Missions, Indian 422 

44 French unsuccessful. . .423, 441 

44 School 424 

44 Chippeway 425 

44 Sandy Lake 42,432 

44 LeechLake 432 

44 Lake Harriet 441,447 

14 Lac qui Parle 443, 594 

44 RedWing 452,493 



10 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Missions, Red Lake 470, 550 

" Methodist.. 452 

" Kaposia .493 

4 * Pokeguma 453, 464, 467 

41 Traverse des Sioux 471 

" Shokpay 540 

" Hazlewood 720 

" Pajutazee 720 

Mississippi ascended by Menard, iv 

Mitchell, Alex, M. . . 507, 543 

Moffet, Lot, early settler 495 

Monroe, Capt, U S. A. . . .528, 533 

Mooers, Hazen 342, 382, 415 

Moran (Marin?) French officer. .190 
194, 196 
Moreau, Pierre (see Taupine) 
Morrison, Allan, trader, 375, 416, 572 

578 

Morrison, William 375, 376 

Morse, Rev. Dr 424 

Murphy, R. G., Indian Ag't, 309,511 
Musou, Charles 441 

N 

Nodouessioux see Sioux. 

Narrhetoba, Sioux Chief 128 

Nash,C. W 776 

Negroes called Black Frenchmen, 390 
Neill, Rev. E.D., 495; offers prayer 
at 1st Legislature, 512; lectures 
at St. Anthony Falls, 521; ad- 
dress before Historical Society, 
522; sermon on railways, 597; 
Chancellor of University, 639, 
642; Supt. of Public Instruc- 
tion, 565, 642; Chaplain First 
Regiment, 650, 657, 666—669, 
675—681. 691—696. 
Newspaper, 1st in Minnesota, 494,508 

" " Pioneer" 494, 522 

" "Register" 508 

" " Chronicle" 508 

" " Chronicle and Register" .508 
" " Minnesota Democrat' ' . . . 544 

" "Dakotah Friend" 544 

" " St. Anthony Express". . .576 

" " Minnesotian" 562 

Newspaper hoax . . . 576, 576 

Nicolas, Louis, Jesuit Ill 

Nicolet, Interpreter 101 

Nicollet, J. N., Astronomer and 

Geologist, 417; sketch of, 418; 

at "Leech Lake, 418; at Fort 

Snelling, 447; second tour, 420. 

Noble, Mrs., captured by Sioux, 

623; murdered, 624. 
Nobles, William H 495 



Norris, James S 518, 613 

North, J. W 547, 627 

Northfield Robbers 766 

Northup, Anson 633 

Northwest Company, 231,237,259, 
276, 280; strife "with Hudson 
Bay Co., 300, 306, 318; post at 
mouth of Assineboine, 310; ati 
Sandy Lake, 323. 
Norton, Daniel S., U. S. Senator,777 
Norwood, Dr. Geologist 380 

O 

Oanktayhee, a Sioux divinity. ... 55 

Oakes, Charles H., trader 431 

Odugameeg, or Fox Indians 176 

Ogden, Major, U. S. A 443 

Ojibways, see Chiopeways. 

Olmstead, S B...' 613 

Olmsted, David, 495,511,543,591,614 

Oliver's Grove (Hastings) 415 

Omahaws ... 54 

One-eyed Sioux 226 

One-legged Jim 457 

Ossiniboia 302 

Otis, Geo. L 759 

Owen, John P., editor 508, 562 

Owens, Wilfred.... 320 

P 

Pacific, northern route to, 213, 603 

Page, Judge impeached 769 

Paffert, Du Luth's guide, 
Pagonta, trader killed at Mendota,225 
Palmerston, on Carver's Claim. .221 
Panis (Pawnees) 

Parant, early settler 475 

Parsons, Rev. J. P 522 

Prairie du Chien, 203, 206, 236; 
during war of 1812, 283, 285; 
treaty of 1825, 383; Indians trou- 
blesome at, 395—397. 

Patron, Du Luth's uncle 123 

Pembina, meaning of, 348; Major 
Wood's expedition, 503; teach- 
er killed at, 573. 

Pemmican, how made 451 

Pemoussa, Fox warrior 177, 178 

Penicault describes Perrot's lead 
mines, at Falls of St. An- 

thony, at Le Sueur's fort, 

his journal, 175; notice of, 
175. 
Penneshaw, trader, 199, 200, 230; 

village, 342. 
Peosta s wife finds lead 236 



GENERAL INDEX. 



11 



Perlier, James, trader 237, 475 

Perkins builds saw mill 380 

Lt., U.S. A 289 

Perrault, trader 233, 234, 236 

Perrot, Nicolas, early life, 
his wife, escort of Father 

Menard, describes flight of 
Hurons to the Mississippi, 114; 
at Sault St. Marie Council, 121 ; 
first visit to Lake Pepin, 143; 
other notices, 146, 

148, 151. 

Perry, early settler 390 

Peters, Rev. Samuel 217, 219 

Petite Cerise Indians, 

Pettijohn, Eli 443 

Phelps, W. W., delegate to Con- 
gress 772 

Phillips, W. D.. . .491, 495, 511, 520 

Picot, French botanist 506 

Pig's Eye, 131; Indian fight at. .469 
Pigeon River Falls, xl. 

Pignet, trader 236 

Pike, Lieut. Zebulon M., 241: at 
Kaposia,242 ; council with Sioux, 
24-3; obtains site for fort, xxii., 
243; at Falls of St. Anthony, 
247 ; winters near Sauk Rapids, 
255—266. 

Pike's Island 453 

Pillsbury, Gov. J. S., ;notice 
of, 764 views upon R. R. bonds, 
765, 766, aid to settlers 768. 

Pillagers of Leech Lake 372 

Pine River 254 

Pinot, voyageur 234 

Plympton. Major, U. S. A 391 

Poage, Sarah, mission teacher. . .443 

Pokeguma, battle of 463 

" Missiou 463 

Pond, Rev. Gideon H., 441, 447, 454 
540, 540, 544, 560 
Pond, Rev. S. W., 441, 447, 540, 562 
Pontchartrain, Minister of France, 

137, 152 
Population of Minnesota, xlix.; 

Appendix D, 505, 508. 
Poskoiac River, 

Pothier, trader 281 

Prescott, Philander. 67, 382, 523, 
530; notice of, 737. 

Presbytery oi Dakotah 96 

Presbyterian Missions, 399, 441,443 
447, 478 

Prevost, Siear 123 

Prichard, John 311 

Printing Press, early 510 

Purcell, Surgeon. U. S. A., 



R 



Roe, Arctic explorer, at St. Paul, 570 

Railroad agitation 613, 615, 616 

44 Bonds. .630, 631, 632, 633, 767 
" grants of 1854. . . .607, 608, 610 

44 of 1857 629 

Railroad Co., Minnesota & N.W.611 

" excursion from Chicago 595 

" sermon 597 

Ramsey, Gov. Alex., arrival of, 
495; biographical notice, 496; 
proclamation, 502; comes from 
Mendota in birch bark canoe, 
504; provides for captive Chip- 
peway boy, 526; speech to In- 
dians at Fort Snelling, 530; 
Thanksgiving proclamat'n, 545, 
563; treaty commissioner, 559; 
elected Governor, 633; views on 
railroad bonds, 633; on school 
lands, 640; offers a regiment to 
the President, 645; U. S. Sen'r.776 

Ramsey, Anna E 497 

Randall, Dr. A., newspaper pro- 
prietor 508 

Rattlesnakes .-•••.• 159 

Raymbault, Jesuit priest 101 

Rayraneecha, or Red Wing, xlviii. 

Red Cedar Lake trading post 255 

Red Bird, Winnebago Chief, 394,395 

398 

Red Pipestone quarry 513, 515 

Red River carts 449 

44 " settlers 333,387,389 

Red Wing, Sioux Chief 236 

44 " village 327 

Reaume, Judge, trader. . . -236, 237 

Reeder, Captain 391 

Reinhard, Charles de, executed. .312 

313 

Renville, Joseph, Sr. . .242, 263, &30 

341, 415, 443; sketch of, 475 

Renville, Joseph, Jr. . . .416, 476, 567 

Republican party organized 614 

Ribourde, Franciscan 128 

Rice, Henry M., selects lands for 
Winnebagoes, 483, 484; signs 
memorial of 1848, 489; visits 
Washington, 492; early friend 
of city of St. Paul, 494; biogra- 
phical notices, 498, 656; sends 
freight boat to Crow Wing, 507; 
elected delegate to Congress, 
591; U. S. Senator, 776. 
Rice, Matilda 500 



12 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Biggs, Rev. Stephen R., Sioux 
Missionary, 447, 479; at Lac qui 
Parle, 447; tour to Missouri, 
462; at Traverse des Sioux, 471; 
his house burned, 494; letter 
from, 720. 

Robert, Louis 490 

Robertson, Colin, Hudson Bay Co.308 
D. A., editor. . . .544, 591 

Rocky Mountain locust 766 

Rocky Mountains discovered by 

Verendrye, xviii. 

Rogers, Capt. Robt, 198, 199, 202, 213 

Rolette, Joseph, 262, 290, 273, 276 

280, 285, 330 

" Jr., 416, 476, 567, 619 

Rollins, John 518 

Rosser, J. T 589 

Rum River, xlvii., 52, 131 

Rum selling 247 

Russell, Jeremiah 464, 512 

R. P 520 



S 



Saint Antoine. Charles, voyageur 
of Red River 318 

Saint Anthoivy "Express" first 
newspaper of Minneapolis 556 

St. Anthony Falls, described by 
Barnes, xlix.; by Beltrami, 377; 
Boutwell,410; Carver, xliii.,208; 
Charleville, xliii. ; Hennepin, 
xlil. ; Long, Penicaut, 

St. Anthony garrison mill 377,399,409 

" library Association 522 

" first steamboat at 527 

above.... 534 

" early school. 520 

" wire suspension bridge. . .613 

St. Croix Falls, xl.; Indian fight. 223 

" River, legend of 94 

" " early steamboat 456 

Saint Croix, French trader 161 

Saint Pierre, Capt., 161 

180, 192, 194, 195, 208 

Saint Pierre (Saint Peter) River, 
now Minnesota. 144, 161, 

208; act of Congress relative to 
name, 566. 

Saint Joseph village captured. ..283 

Saint Lusson, Sieur. 120 

Saint Paul, origin of its name, 481 ; 
early -days of, 481; early school. 
520; Indian fight at, 587; Pres- 
byterian chapel burned, 529; de- 
scription of place by Miss Bre- 
Bremer, 543; execution of Yu- 



hazee, 611; arrival of relics of 
Sir John Franklin's party, 615; 
Mrs. Bilansky, hung, 640. 
Saint Remi River, tributary of 

Blue Earth 165 

Sandy Lake Chippeways, 223; tra- 
ding post, 234, 238,403.405; 
Pike visits, 257, Gov. Cass at, 
323; mission at, 428. 
Saskatchewan River, . . 321 

Saucy Jack 391 

Sauk Indians at Detroit 176, 177 

Sault St Marie Council 120 

Saulteurs, why so called 113 

Say, Thomas H., Zoologist 341 

Scalp dance at Cass Lake, 106, at 
Stillwater, 526, at Kaposia, 505 

Schenectady burned 142 

Schiller, poem on Sioux Chief. ... 89 
Schoolcraft, H. R., accompanies 
Gov. Cass, 322; tour of 1831, 
461 ; tour of 1832, 403; at Leech, 
Lake, 405 ; at Elk Lake or Itasca, 
407; at Stillwater. 411, 

School. Baldwin 587, 763 

School Fund, attempt to divide. .586 

" houses in 1852 569 

' ' Section Debate in Congress, 553 

Schools, Indian. . .424, 432, 433, 447 

423, 464, 467 

Schools at St. Anthony 520 

at St. Paul 481,520 

at Stillwater 520 

Supt of, 641 ; Report of. . 566 

Normal 633 

Seal of Minnesota, its motto, 516 
poem on, 517. 

Selby, J.W 611 

Selkirk, Earl of, 290, 301, 302, 308 
314, 315 

Selkirk Settlement 303 

Semple, Gov., 309; killed 311 

Setzer, Henry F 512, 518 

Seymour, Samuel 341 

Shields, Gen. James,U. S. S.,628,677 

Sherburne, Judge 589 

Shokpay, or Shakopee, xlvhi., . . .562 
" hung at Fort Snelling, 757 
758 
Sibley, Gov. H.H., 417, 442, 462, 
514,590; signs memorial of 1848, 
487; delegate at Stillwater, 491 ; 
delegate to Congress, 492, 511; 
entertains Gov. Ramsey, 495; 
biographical notice, 497; Gov- 
ernor of Minnesota, 632; mili- 
itary record, see Military Index; 
Congressional service, 771 



GENERAL INDEX. 



13 



Sibley, Mrs. Sarah 497 

Simpson, Alex., brother of Thos.462 

Simpson, Capt,, U. S. A 579 

44 Wm., early resident at, 

St. Paul, 480, 495, 502 

S impson , Thomas , Arctic explorer, 

death in Minnesota . .461 

Sioux Bands, Isanyati, 51; Yank- 
ton, vii., 52, 170, 225; Mdewa- 
kantons, 51, 164, 165, 169, 170, 
230. 400; Sissetoans, 327, 472, 
510. 
Sioux Chief, Aile Rouge. 269, 326, 338 

411 
11 " hung at Fort Snelling, 
758, his body dissected at a Phil- 
adelphia medical college 759 

44 FilsdePinchow ....2:6 

44 Killeur Rouge 267 

44 Petit Corbeau, 267, 282 
285, 292, 587. 
44 Indians, language of, 49; 
origin of the name, 57; idea of 
diseases, 87; idea of future life, 
88; suicides,' 88; legends, 90-95; 
lexicon. 96; attacked by Chip- 
peways, 107 ; capture Hennepin, 
128; visited by Perrot, 143; first 
chief at Montreal, 148; attack 
Verendrye, 189; visit English 
at Mackinaw, 199; attack Chip- 
peways, 227, 338, 394, 402, 457, 
463, 526; attacked by Chippe- 
ways, 454, 456, 469; massacre 
of white settlers, 621—666. 
"Sioux Missions, 441, 442. 447, 471, 480 
540, 462, 720 

Sioux books printed 721—724 

Slade, Ex-Gov 481 

Slaves, African, at Fort Snelling, 391 

Smith, C. K 502,522 

Snelling, Col. Joseph, 327. 328, 329 
333, 331, 393, 394, 397 
Snelling, Wm. Joseph, poem on 
Thunder Bird, 57; notices of. 

342. 349, 377, 397 
Sources of Mississippi. .374, 375, 377 
Spencer, Missionarv at Red Lake,470 

Spring of 1827, very cold 390 

Stage road. first thro' Wisconsin. .524 

Stambaugh, S. C 453 

Steamboat, first at Fort Snelling. 383 

" " St. Croix Falls,450 

44 above Ft.Sneliing,391 

44 at St. Anthony... 527 

44 Gov. Ramsey, above 

Falls of St. Anthony, 534 

~" on Minnesota River 534 



Steamboat, first on Red River. .633 

Steams, O. P., notice of 777 

Steele, Franklin, 453, 487, 491; 
develops water power at Minne- 
apolis. 501 : notice of, 500. 

Steele, Mrs. Franklin 501 

Steuben, Baron 238 

Stevens, Rev. J. D., Sioux Mis- 
sionary, 399, 443, 445. 

Stevens, John H 500 

44 Thaddeus 554 

Stewart, James, explorer 615 

Dr. Jacob M.C 775 

Stillwater, settlement of, 471, 483; 
scalp-dance at, 526; landslide, 
573; land office, 504. 

Stitt, L. M., trader ^416 

Stoddard, Capt. U. S. A 240 

Stone heaps at Red Wing 187 

Strait, H. B., M. C, notice of. . .775 

Sturges, William 511 

Sullivan, Capt 285 

Sumner, Capt., U. S. A. . . .472, 473 
Swartz, Andrew, killed by Sioux, 555 

Sweetzer, Madison 590 

Swift, Gov. Henry A., notice of. .757 

Swiss settlers 389, 390, 459 

44 Missions ries 452 



Tailhan, editor of Perrot's book. .114 

Takushkanshkan,Dakotah divinity 57 

Taliaferro, Major Lawrence, 333, 337 

380, 391, 399, 441 

Talon, Intendant of Canada 120 

Tanner, John, found at Rainy 

Lake 314,349 

Tanner, James, his son 349 

Tatankamani, Sioux Chief 327 

Taupine, alias Moreau.120, 122, 123 

Taylor,D.C 495 

Joshua, L., 502, 507, 
Zachary, 286. 

Tecumseh 279 

Tegahkouita, Catharine 142 

Temperance among Sioux 509 

Teeoskahtay, Sioux chief,149,151,167 

Terrv, Elijah, murdered 573 

Thanksgiving Day 545, 563 

Thatcher, Miss, captured. . .623, 624 

Thunder Bird 

Ticonderoga, western Indians at. 197 

Tipsinna, wild turnip 506 

Tonty, Sieur, Du Luth's cousin, vi. 
141, 142 

Todd, Capt,, U. S. A 530, 533 

Toopunkah Zeze, Sioux brave. . .393 



14 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Trask, Sylvanus 512, 518 

Treaty of 1825 385 

" ofFonduLac, 1826 386 

" of 1837 453 

" of 1851 556 

" ofWatab 587 

Trowbridge, C. C 322 

Tully, Abraham, rescued from 

Indians 333 

Tully,Tohn, rescued from Indians, 333 
Tuttle, Calvin 501 

U 

University of Minnesota . . 547,634,637 

641 



Van Vorhes, A 504 

Vercheres, commander at Green 
Bay 194 

Verendrye(Veranderie)Sieur de la, 
his sons, at Lake 

of Woods, at Rocky Moun- 

tains, 187, 300, 

Verendrye, Jr., 
" Chevalier, 

Virginia, first steamboat at Fort 
Snelling 333 

Voyageur badly frozen 324 

Voyageurs' mode of life, 294, 297, 303 
strength of, 404. 

Vose, Major, U. S. A., 



W 



Wahkanteepee, Sioux Chief, xvi., 

166, 167, 168 

Wahkootay (Wakute) 228 

Wahnata, Sioux Chief 327, 343 

Wait,L.B 511 

Wakefield, John A 522 

Wales, W. W 619 

Wambojeeg, Chippeway Chief. . .223 

Wapasha, xlvhi., 227, 228, 260, 281 

282, 292, 338, 415, 485 



Warren, John, Esais 61& 

" trader at La Poiute,403, 40& 
William . . . .279, 435, 530 

Washington, General George 195 

Watson, a driver, killed 472 

Welch, Judge 611 

Wells, James, trader. . .493, 512, 518 
Whallon's farm house visited by 

Indians 618 

Whistler, Major, U. S. A. 398 

White, Wallace B 530 

Whiteside, Capt 286- 

Whitworth, member of Parham't,214 

Wilder, Judge 775 

Wilkin, Col. Alexander 563, 691 

Wilkinson, M. S., U. S. Senator, 

512; notice of, 774, 776. 
Williamson, Rev. T. S., M. D., 
Sioux Missionary, early life, 442; 
at Fcrt Snelling, 442; letters 
from Lac qui Parle, 443; esti- 
mate on Renville, 477; at Kapo- 
sia, 480, 493; procures a teach- 
er for St. Paul, 481; examines 
an Indian's wound, 536; his 
translations, 721 — 724. 
Wilson, Eugene M., notice of,. . .77$ 
Windom, William, U. S. Senator, 

notice of 772, 777 

Winnebago Indians, 100, 143, 155,282 
394, 398, 483, 485 

Winthrop, R. C 790 

Wisconsin Territory organized. . .416 

Wolf, General 198 

Wolf borup, trader, see Borup. 

Women voters . . 76$ 

Wood, Major, U. S. A 50& 

Wood, trader 242, 267, 271 



Yeetkadootah, Sioux brave. .456,458 

Yeiser, Capt. U. S. A 284, 386, 

Yellow Stone, 

Yomville, Madame, neice of Ve- 
rendrye, 
Yuhazee executed at St. Paul,571,61i 






GENERAL INDEX 



PAGE 770 TO PAGE 928. 



Ako, Michael 812, 822, 823, 829 

Aldnch, Cyrus M. C 789 

Andriani censures N. W. Co 871 

Andrews, C. C 788 

Assineboine (St. Charles) River.. 801 
Averill, J . T., M. C 790 

B 

Banning, W. L., R. R. President. 785 

Beauharnois, Governor of Canada, 183 

189, 191, 860 

Beaux Horames tribe 860 

Becker, G. L., R. R. President. .783 
Bellin's Description of America. .145 
Belhn's notice of Ochaga's Map.. 800 

Berthot, Colin murdered 817 

Black River, a Huron retreat 807 

Black Feet Indians 862 

Bonga or Bungo, a negro slave. .874 

Boucher, LaPerriere noticed 851 

44 Montbrun 851 

" de Niverville 852 

Boucherville and Guignas cap- 
tured 852 

Buffalo in Red River Valley 880 

C 

Cameron, Red River trader 882 

death of, 885; burial... 885 
Capital, proposed removal. .318, 619 

Capitol at St. Paul burned 778 

Cavanaugh, J. M., U. S. U. of R. 788 

Chatfield, Judge 589, 789 

Coquard 862 

14 on death of St. Pierre. ... 195 
Cox, Judge E. St. J. impeached.. 778 

Cristenaux tribe 862 

Culbertson, Sutler at Ft. Snelling.918 



De Gonor, Jesuit, at Fort Pepin. .857 

De Ja Corne, St. Luc 864 

De la Jemeraye. . .801 

De la Tourette, DuLuth's brother. 142 

799 

Denonville, Governor 149, 805 

De Noyelles succeeds Verandrie. .860 

Donnellv, Ignatius 645, 780 

Drake, E. F., President R. R. . . .784 

Du Luth Sieur 819-822 

Dunnell, M. H., M. C 790 



F 



Faffart, Du Luth's interpretei . . .811 

Fort Henry, Park River 877 

11 La Reine 300, 859 

Fort Snelling, early days of. 319, 890 

920 

Fort St. Charles 300, 801 

44 St. Nicolas 300, 799 

• 4 St. Pierre 800 

44 William 882 

Franquelin's maps 798, 799 

G 

Galissoniere, Governor 860 

George, James C 780 

Gillam, Captain, of Boston 805 

Groselliers, notice of. 805, 856 

Gros Ventre Indians 862 

Guignas captured .851 

H 

Hamilton, Alexander, widow of. 914 

Harrisse on early maps 798 

Hennepin's writings 822-831 



16 



ADDITION TO GENERAL TNDEX. 



Historical Society Address 522 

in court 771 

Hubbard, Governor L. F 778 

Hudson Bay, early history 805 

Hurons, flight of 806, 808 

I 

Impeachment of Judge Page. . . .769 
" Cox 778 

J 

Jemeraye, Verandrie's nephew.. .851 

map of 801, 859 

Joliet, explorer. . . .120, 797, 798, 806 
Jonquiere, Governor 86 

K 

Kamanistigoya. . . 194, 799, 800, 809 

King, W. S., M. C 791 

Kingsbury, W. W 789 



O 

Ossiniboia, origin of name 856 

P 

Park River, fort at 856 

Pembina, Henry's post at 882 

Perrot, sketch of 832-83& 

Petite Cerise 860 

Poehler, Henry, M. C 794 

Pillsbury, Governor, last term. . . 776 

R 

Railroad, first from St. Paul 782 

Ramsey, Alex., Secretary of War. 794 

Randin's map 797 

Red Lake visited by Thompson. ..869 

Red River cart invented 882 

Rice, Edmund, R. R. President. . 782 
Rum Selling near Fort Snelling. .917 



La Corne, Louis Luc, noticed. . . .864 
Lake, Red, visit of Thompson. . .869 
LaPerriere Boucher at Haverhill. .183 

" " notice of. ... 851 

" builds Fort Pepin850 
LaSalle disparages DuLuth. .810-812 

Legislature, biennial session 776 

settles R. R. Bonds. 777 
Leonard, Sutler at Fort Snelling. 918 
LeSueur, additional notices of, 845,848 

Lochren William 793 

Lunatic Asylum burned 776 

M 

Maps, early, described 800-802 

Map of Champlain 797 

" "Franquelin 798 

" " Ochagas 800,857 

Marest, Jesuit 148, 154, 849 

Marin, Lamarqu e de 865 

Maryatt at Fort Snelling 927 

McGilles, Hugh at Grand Portage 868 

McMillan, U. S., Senator 793 

McNair, W. W 791 

Menard Father, notice of. 805 

Minneapolis in 1880 xlix 

N 

Negro slaves at Fort Snelling. . .913 
North- West Company, notice of, 870 
Noue, Robertel la 856, 857 



Saint Pierre, Jacques Legardeur, 161 
180, 192, 855.; Notices of. 863, 864 

Scott, Dred, case of. 913 

Shields, U. S., Senator 792 

Sibley, H. H., M. C 787 

Steele, Franklin, obituary of 919 

Strait, H. #., M. C 791 

T 

Thompson, David, explorations of, 866 

870 
V 

Verendrye (Verandrie), explorer, 187 
800,858 
" his sons at Lake of the 
Woods, 859; at Rocky 

Mountains 859 

deathof 860 

son of killed 859 

Chevalier 860 

W 

Washburn, W. D. notice of 794 

Wilkinson, M. S 790. 792 

Williamson, death of Rev. Dr. . .774 
Windom, William, U. S- Sec'y of 
Treasury 793 

Y 

Yellowstone Valley - 862 

Youville, Madame, neice of Ver- 
andrie 859 



INDEX TO 

MILITARY HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 



A 

Acker, Capt. W. H. . . .647, 648, 679 
Adams, Lieut. Col. of 1st Regt., 

wounded 743 

Anawanymane, Simon; Friendly 

Indian 720 

Andrews, Gen. C. C. . .715, 751, 754 
Arnold, Capt. J K 753 

B 

Baker, Col. E. D., killed 682 

Ball's Bluff Disaster 682, 683 

Bassett. Hon. W. of Va 694 

Battle of Ball's Bluff 682 

" " Bull Run 672-681 

44 " Birch Coolie 730 

44 4< Chieainauga 745 

44 44 Corinth 705-707 

44 44 Fair Oaks 696 

44 44 Iuka 703 

44 44 Malvern Hills 701 

44 44 Mill Springs 685 

44 near Mobile 754 

44 " Nashville 753 

44 4< Pittsburg Landing, .. . 688 

" " Tupelo 752 

44 44 Wood Lake 731 

Beauregard, Gen 671 

Becht. Major 752 

Bishop, Lt. Col 746 

Blake, drummer- boy 686 

Blakely, C. H.. Adj't 684 

Boone, Lt. Col. of Mississippi. . . 674 

Borgenrode, Cc 1 702 

Boutillier. Set " Le Boutillier" 
Bradley, Major of 7th Regiment 731 
Brainerd, Rev. . fohn 716 



Brigade, Franklin's 666 

Brigham, Surgeon 684 

Brother, a dead 686 

Brown, Major Joseph R 730 

Burgess. Color Bearer of 1st R. 700 

Burnside, General 671, 677 

Butler, Levi, Surgeon 3d Reg't. 684 

c 

Cameron, Sec. of War 648, 650 

Chaffee, Chaplain J. F 702 

Clark, Lt, Geo. A 738 

Clayton Lt 689, 704 

Coates, Capt, H. A 681, 741 

Cochran, Col. John, of N. Y. . . 699 
Collins, Frank E., Q. M. Sergt. . 789 

Colville, Col 700, 740 

Cook, Lt,, at Pittsburg Landing 689 

Cornwallis, surrender of 692 

Cressey, Timothy, Chaplain 684 

Cross, Asst. Surgeon of 4th Regt. 702 
Crooks, Col. of 6th Regt 733 

D 

Da Costa, Chaplain 5th Mass. 

656, 659, 674 
Dahlgren, Commodore U. S. N. . 653 

Dakotah Bibliography 721 

Dana's Brigade at Fail- Oaks. . . 697 

Dana, Col. N. J. T. 682, 692 

Dart. Capt, J. R 710 

Davis, Corporal 690 

De Camp, Mrs., rescued 721 

De Grey, Lt., wounded 743 

Dengle, of 1st Regt 677 

Dike, Major 650, 680, 681 

Donnellv. Lt. Governor 645, 649 

Downie,* Maj. .648, 650, 670,673, 674 



INDEX. 



E 

Ethridge, Surgec n 702 

F 

Farrell, Capt., killed 742, 743 

Fiske, Chaplain, Asa S 702 

Flandrau, Col. defends New Ulm 728 
Franklin, Col. W. B., reports of; 677 

French, Adjt. A. R 702 

Fort Snelling recruiting camp . . 647 
Fort Sumter 645 

G 

George, Col. James 683, 746 

Gere, Lt. Col. W. B 702, 714 

Gibbs, Gates, ambulance driver, 627 

Gibbons, General 742 

Gorman's Brigade 605 

Gorman, Gen. W.A.649,650,678, 682 

Griggs, Lt. Col. C. W 715 

Grow, Quartermaster 684 

H 

Hadlcy, Major J. A 684 

Hancock's Corps at Gettysburgh 739 

Hancock, General 740 

Hand, Surgeon D. W 663 

Harley, Lt., wounded 679 

Harmon, Lt. Wm 700, 744 

Heaney, Adjt. D 684 

HenVlnnger, Lt. at Gettysburgh 744 
Heintzelman, Col..657,670,673, 677 

Hines, drummer- boy 675 

Hospital Fund of 1 st Regt. , origin 660 
" " contributors to... 662 

41 •* expenditures 663 

" " erects monument 663 

HotchMss, Capt. W. A 714, 751 

Hoyt, Capt. of 3d Regt 715 

Hubbard, Col. L. F.. ..702,710, 753 

Hudson, Lt. Col. of N. Y 696 

Hunt, Lt. Thos. B 709 

Hunter, Gen., wounded 676 

I 

Indian Policy of 1612 716 

" of London Comp'y 719 

" Education, 1619 717 

" Massacre. 716-737 

" Missionaries 720, 727 

Ireland, Chaplain 702, 711 

Irvine, Capt. Javan B 672 

" captures Lt. Col. Boone, 674 



Irvine, promoted for services . . . 672 
Irvine, Corporal W. N 742, 744 



Jennison, Lt. Col. S. P 755 

Johnson, Gen. R. W 745 

K 

Kennedy, Surgeon Y. P 702 

Kerrot of 1st Regt., wounded . . 680 
Kittredge, Sergt. Major 70£ 

L 

Lamson kills Little Crow. ...... 737 

Lawrence, Loren., friendly Sioux 720 

Leach, Adjt. W. B 650, 682 

LeBoutillier, Surg., 650,660,677, 681 

Leftwich, Rev. Mr 657 

Legro, Capt. at Iuka 703 

Lewis, of Palmetto Regt 675 

Lincoln, Abraham, elected Pres. 644 
Little Crow, Sioux Chief, 721, 

733, 735, 737 

•* " his son captured. ... 737 

M 

Manson, Col. of Indiana 685 

Marshall, Lt. Col. W. R.,..731, 753 

Martin, Capt. L. B 738 

Mason, Lt. at Gettysburgh 744 

Mazatumani, Paul, Friendly 

Sioux 910 

McCaslin at Savage Station 700 

McClellan. General 672, 701 

McCook, Col. Robert 685 

McDonald, Joseph, of 1st Regt. 700 

McDowell, General 669, 677 

McGrorty, Quartermaster 701 

McLaren, Major 731 

MeKune, Capt. killed 675 

Me^sick, Capt. killed 742, 743 

Miller, Col. Stephen 650, 734 

" at Bull Run 684 

Milligan, Asst. Surgeon 584 

Minnesota 1st Battery, 684, 688, 

751, 754 
2d " 701, 755 

3d " 755 

" Heavy Artillery 755 

" Cavalry (Rangers). . . 755 
" " (Brackett's). 755 

" " 2d Regiment 755 

" (Hatch's)... 755 
" Inf'y Battalion, 754, 755 



INDEX. 



3 



Minnesota 1st Reg. must'd, 647, 649 




" " visits St. Paul, 649 




i it ii p resen ted with 




a flag 649 




* " Chaplain's address 650 




* *' list of staff officers 650 




* " goes to seat of war 650 




4 " at Washington. . . 652 




* " n'r Alexandria 654, 655 




' " atSangster's St'n 666-9 




4 "at Bull Run... 672-681 




1 " at Edward's Ferry 682 




* " at Ball's Bluff ... 682 




' "near Winchester.. 690 




* "atsiegeofYorkt'n 691 




* " at West Point. . . . 693 




' "at Fair- Oaks 696 




4 " at Peach Orchard. 700 




' " at Savage Station. 700 




4 "at Malvern Hills.. 701 




' " at Antietam 701 




* " at Fredericksburgh 714 




4 " at Gettysburgh 739-746 




" at Bristow Station 647 




" Banquet at Wash- 




ington 748 




"last parade 751 




1 " Gettysburgh Mon- 




ument 662 


Minn 


. 2dRegt. Officers 682 


«i 


" at Mill Springs.... 685 


it 


" at Chicamauga ... 745 


<< 


" Return 748 


it 


" Discharge 755 


Minn 


.3dRegt. Officers 684 


t« 


" unfortunate 715 


i. 


" discharged 755 


Minn 


. 4th Regt. Officers 702 


ii 


" at Iuka 703 


i< 


" at Corinth 704 


ii 


" Report of 706 


ii 


" at Port Gibson .... 738 


ii 


" at Raymond 738 


ii 


" at Jackson 738 


ii 


" at Vicksburg 739 


ii 


" atAltoona 753 


<< 


" with Gen. Sherman 754 


«( 


" discharged 755 


Minn 


. 5th Regt. Officers 702 


" 


' ' goes to seat of war 701 


u 


" near Corinth.. 702, 705 


n 


" " Jackson 739 


it 


" before Vicksburg . . 739 




" at Tupelo 752 


ii 


" at Nashville 753 


•i 


" discharged 755 



Minn. 6th Regt. near Mobile. . . 754 

" discharged 755 

Minn. 7th Regt. at Nashville. . . 753 

" discharged 755 

Minn. 8th Regt. n'r Murfreesboro 753 

" discharged 755 

Minn. 9th Regt. at Nashville. . . 753 

" at Tupelo 752 

" " discharged.. ... .. 755 

Minn. 10th Regt. at Tupelo 752 

" at Nashville 753 

" " near Mobile 754 

44 4i discharged 755 

Minn. Sharpshooters, Co. A.... 755 
Co. B.... 755 

Morgan, Capt 682 

Morrow, W. H 686 

Mossom, Rev. David 695 

Mowers, Capt 706 

Moulton, Capt., killed 742 

Munch, Capt 688, 704 

Murdock, Lt., killed 745 

Murphy, Surgeon, J. H. 702, 703, 710 

N 

Neill, Chaplain, E. D 650 

44 Letters of; 653, 657, 

660, 661, 696, 669, 691 
44 " Hospital Fund Re- 
ports 661-666 

Neill, Col. Thomas H 696, 699 

Nelson, Col. Anderson D 647 

Northup, Anson 680 



Oakes, Lt. David, killed 701 

O'Brien, H. D. of 1st Regt. .742, 744 

Olin, Adjt. R. C 684 

Other-Day, Friendly Sioux. .720, 727 

P 

Parker, Albert, of 2d Regt. on 

death of his brother 686 

Peebles, Lt 689. 690 

Peteler, Capt. F 684 

Pell, Capt 648 

Peller, Adjt. of 1st Regt 743 

Perkins, E. P., wounded at Get- 
tysburg 744 

Perriam, Capt., killed 742 

Peyton, Capt. Bailie, shot 686 

Pfaender, Capt , 688 

Pope, Major General 735 

Prescott, Lt. G. W 745 






INDEX. 



Prescott, Philander, killed by 

Sioux 737 

Prescott, Philander, notice of. . . 737 

Presbyterian Sioux Mission 720 

Putnam, Capt 681 

R 

Ramsey, Lt. Douglass, U. S. A. 

killed 678 

Ramsey, Gov. Alex .645, 649 

Rickett's Battery 677, 678 

Riggs, Rev. S. R 720, 727 

Rosecrans, Gen 712 

Russell, Capt. of Sharpshooters. 701 

S 

Sanborn, Gen. John B., 647, 702, 

703, 706, 738, 739 

Saxdale of Battery killed 690 

Sedgwick's Division at Yorktown 691 
Sherman, Marshall, of 1st Regt. 
captures flag at Gettysburg, 743, 743 

Sherman, Gen. W. T 681 

Sibley, Gen. H. H., 721, 729, 730, 

731, 732, 736, 737 

Sinclair, Lt., wounded 743 

Sioux Massacre, cause of 421-724 

affray at Acton 726 

attack Lower Agency 726 

approach Fort Ridgley. . . 728 

attack New Ulm 728 

defeated at Wood Lake. . . 731 

Indians bung 734 

Smith, Lt. Col. B. F 687 

Smith, Lt. Frank G., U. S. A. . 745 

Smith, Surgeon, killed 752 

Smith, Sumner, Major 683 

Spencer, Geo. A., captured 726 

Stanley, General 710 

Stansbury, Capt. Top. Eng 649 



Stinson, Colby. 690 

Strong, Geo. D. of 2d Regt 686- 

Stone, Gen. C P 683 

Stout, Lt., wounded 686- 

Sudley, Church 677, 678 

Sully, Gen. Alfred, 690, 696, 699, 636 
Sumter, Fort 645 

T 

Tensas, Rifles of Louisiana 676 

Thomas, Lt.Col. M. B., 670,671, 702 

Thompson, Adjt. J. M 702, 709 

Thorpe, George, of Va 718 

Tollman, Surgeon 684 

Tyler, General, repulsed 670 

u 

Uline, Lt. at Mill Springs 686 

V 

Van Cleve, General H. P., 683, 

685, 745 

w 

Washington, on Civil Discord. . 659 

his marriage 694 

Welch, Major 575, 702, 731 

Welles, Sergeant of 2d Regt. . . 686 

Wicket, Adam, of 2d Regt 686 

Wilkin, Col. Alex., 669, 675, 683, 752 

Williamson, Rev. T. S 720, 727 

Wilson, Captof6th 731 

Wilson, T. P. of 4th 709 

Workman, an ambulance driver 678 

Y 

Yorktown, Siege of 691 






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